Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Request to produce proof of certificate of service

With regard to the order for a motion to compel

discovery, you did not mention that there was

any hearing and your description does not sound

like there was a hearing, because the issue of

the date of delivery would already have been

raised during the hearing.

The judge is not going to enter any order until

a hearing is scheduled and both sides are heard.

(Well, actually I know a few judges who ignore

the law and the rules, but the judge should not

do anything wthout a hearing.) So, the judge is

not going to entertain a hearing about nothing,

if you have already answered.

With regard to the requests for documents and

interrogatories, as long as you serve answers

on the requesting party before the hearing date,

the court WILL NOT do anything, because it will

then be moot. (Assuming the judge doesn't

ignore the law, of course.) All the judge can

do is order you to provide responses. If you

already have done that, then there is nothing

further to do. However, if you wait until the

hearing date, there is a slim chance that the

judge will order you to pay the other side's

attorneys fees for the motion to compel.

HOWEVER, with regard to the requests for

admission, if you do not answer within 21 days,

you are assumed to have admitted all of the

requested admissions to be TRUE. It does not

matter if you have a hearing or if the judge

enters an order or not. This is automatic.

However, if you dispute that you received the

requests for admission, then there will be a

debate about that, andpossibly a hearing.

The opposing party will need to convince the

judge that the requests for admission were

served when claimed. However, you will need to

have a convincing presentation that you did not

receive the requests for admission.

In short, you should answer the requests for

admission as soon as possible, and note in

your answer that you first received them on

the date when you did.