Also known as: requesting parties
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The party in litigation that serves a discovery request or other procedural request on an opposing party. The term identifies the movant whose request triggers obligations on the responding party to answer, object, or seek protection and whose showing of good cause may overcome claims of inaccessibility or undue burden.
Rajesh Rao's subscribers sued TelNet Corp. for location tracking and moved to compel years of compressed cell-site records stored on legacy magnetic tapes. TelNet identified the tapes as not reasonably accessible because of extreme cost and rare equipment needs. The requesting party failed to demonstrate good cause, so the court denied the motion to compel.
Rosa Ruiz was tried on fraud charges. At the close of evidence her counsel submitted a written request for a specific instruction on willfulness. The requesting party furnished copies to the government as required, allowing the court to inform the parties of its intended ruling before closing arguments.
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Ronald Reed served requests for admission on Redwood Bank seeking to establish the genuineness of loan documents. The bank failed to serve a written answer or objection within thirty days. The requesting party therefore treated each matter as admitted under the rule.
Ravi Reddy sued UBS Warburg alleging discrimination and sought emails stored only on decommissioned backup tapes. The requesting party argued the data were essential to prove pretext. The court considered shifting some restoration costs to Reddy after the producing party demonstrated undue burden.
Roland Rhodes and Sierra Club petitioned for mandamus against the Vice President seeking records of an energy task force. The requesting party faced an elevated burden because mandamus is an extraordinary remedy. The Court vacated the discovery order and remanded for further consideration of that heightened standard.
The requesting party must show good cause for ordering discovery from those sources, taking into account the proportionality factors in Rule 26(b)(2)(C).
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A matter is admitted when the party to whom the request is directed fails to serve a written answer or objection within thirty days after service.
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The requesting party must furnish a copy of the written request to every other party at the time the request is made.
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Even when good cause is shown, the court may condition discovery on cost-shifting or other protective measures to mitigate undue burden on the responding party.
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…26(c) to grant orders protecting [it] from ‘undue burden or expense’ in doing so, including orders conditioning discovery on the requesting party’s payment of the costs of discovery.”[^maj-32] The application of these various discovery rules is particularly complicated where electronic data is sought because otherwise discoverable…