Under Rule 1.370, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may serve a written request that another party admit certain facts to be true. If the party served with the request fails to respond within 30 days, then the matters in the request are deemed to be admitted and need not be established by separate evidence at trial. In Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Donaldson , Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal recently considered whether such technical admissions can also be used to overcome contradictory facts already in the record.
This case involved a borrower who defaulted on a residential loan. Wells Fargo filed suit attempting to foreclose the mortgage. As an affirmative defense, the borrower argued that Wells Fargo lacked standing to foreclose because the original lender allegedly failed to properly assign the loan documents to Wells Fargo.
In her first request for admissions, the borrower asked the bank to admit that it was not the holder of the original mortgage and note. Wells Fargo failed to timely respond to the admissions and thereby admitted that it lacked standing (per Rule 1.370). The trial court then involuntarily dismissed the foreclosure action over the objection of Wells Fargo.
On appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal agreed that Wells Fargo’s failure to timely respond to the borrower’s discovery request resulted in technical admissions. However, the appellate court noted that those technical admissions conflicted with Well Fargo’s verified complaint as well as loan documents previously filed in the case. Since the admissions were disputed by facts already in the record, the Third District Court of Appeal held dismissal was inappropriate based solely on the technical admissions.
In practice, litigants must take care to timely respond to requests for admission. While a party who misses a discovery deadline may file a motion to withdraw or amend technical admissions, a trial court may not always be receptive to such a motion. Regardless, the analysis of the Third District Court of Appeal indicates that technical admissions cannot overcome facts already in the record or provide the sole basis for an involuntary dismissal.