What happens if someone ignores a motion to compel?
Asked by: Rosamond Hackett | Last update: November 22, 2025Score: 4.2/5 (53 votes)
If the motion to compel fails, a motion for sanctions may be the next step. Failure to act, failure to answer, or failure to produce may lead to discovery sanctions under Rule 61.01 such as an order striking pleadings or parts thereof; or an order to pay reasonable expenses, including attorney fees.
What happens if you don't respond to a motion to compel?
Courts enforce their orders by imposing sanctions on a party who fails to comply. Sanctions can be monetary, such as requiring one party to pay the other parties attorneys' fees and/or imposing a monetary fine, or they can hamper a party's ability to put on their case.
What is the time limit for a motion to compel?
Timing: The notice of motion to compel a further response to written discovery must be served within 45 days of service of the verified response at issue or of when any verified supplemental response was served. (§ 2030.300(c)).
What are the consequences of a motion to compel?
If a motion to compel discovery is granted, the prosecution is legally obligated to provide the requested evidence. Failure to comply can lead to various consequences, including sanctions, case dismissal, or a reversal of a conviction on appeal due to the violation of discovery rights.
Why would a judge deny a motion to compel?
Your attorney must either accept this decision or appeal it and continue pursuing the material through other legal channels. A judge might deny a motion to compel for several reasons, including: The requested information was not essential to the case. The opposing party already produced the requested material.
The truth about Motions to Compel
How to defeat a motion to compel?
You need to give the court a reason to deny the other side's motion to compel. There are many different reasons you could give. Take out your Response to the discovery request. You should have identified reasons in your Response for why you weren't turning over certain information.
Can a judge refuse to hear a motion?
The judge, as the central figure, listens to the arguments, asks questions, and ultimately decides whether to grant or deny the motion.
Is motion to compel good or bad?
Too often, however, parties fail to make meaningful efforts to respond to written discovery. Motions to compel are powerful tools to educate opposing counsel on, and enforce, discovery obligations. A discovery motion may be required whenever a party is seemingly withholding information.
What consequences can result from a refusal to cooperate with an order compelling discovery?
(b) Failure to Comply with a Court Order. (1) Sanctions Sought in the District Where the Deposition Is Taken. If the court where the discovery is taken orders a deponent to be sworn or to answer a question and the deponent fails to obey, the failure may be treated as contempt of court.
What happens if the defendant does not respond to interrogatories?
If you do not answer the questions by the deadline, which is usually about a month, the other side could ask the judge to order you to respond to the interrogatories. If you miss the second deadline, the judge could impose a fine against you or strike your pleadings.
What is the basis for a motion to compel?
Consider Filing a Motion to Compel if:
A party fails to answer an interrogatory. A party's response to a discovery request is incomplete or evasive. A person fails to answer a question during a deposition. A non-party objects to a request for documents under a subpoena.
What is the deadline for motion to compel after discovery?
The Court may reject your Motion to Compel as untimely if you file it after your discovery deadline or long after you became aware of the insufficient response to your discovery request.
How long do you have to file a motion to compel in federal court?
The federal rules do not contain any time limit in which a motion to compel discovery must be filed. But you should check your court's local rules and even the judge's standing order. For instance, in the Northern District of California you must move to compel within seven days of the close of discovery.
What is the timeline for a motion to compel?
Motion to compel further discovery responses
Notice of said motion (c) must be served within 45 days of the service of the verified response (five extra days if mailed pursuant to C.C.P. § 1013) or by a specific date agreed upon in writing by both parties; else the right to bring the motion is waived.
What happens if your spouse doesn't respond to discovery?
If the other person does not respond, or their response is still incomplete, you can ask the court to order them to respond. You have 45 days from the service of the most recent responses to ask the court to make an order requiring an answer. If the response was served by mail, 5 extra days are added.
Can you object to a motion to compel?
The answering or objecting party may file a response to the motion to compel. The response must contain adequate justification for that party's objections, or argument showing why the party's answers to the discovery requests at issue were sufficient.
What happens if you don't provide discovery?
The other party might not respond, or s/he could file a “motion to compel discovery.” A motion to compel discovery is a written request to the judge in which the party seeking discovery asks the judge to issue an order requiring that the other party turns over the requested documents by a certain date or face certain ...
What happens if defendant lies in discovery?
When the truth is discovered, the judge may impose a fine, assign additional litigation costs, or dismiss the case entirely if it was brought by the party who provided false information.
How long does it take to get a motion of discovery?
How Long Does it Take to Get Discovery in a Criminal Case? Generally, the prosecution must provide discovery within a set period after the defense's formal request, often ranging from a few weeks to several months.
Does a motion to compel require a separate statement?
All discovery motions should include a notice of motion and motion. In addition, motions to compel further responses must include a separate statement and meet and confer declaration.
Is a motion to compel a subpoena?
A motion to compel is the method by which a subpoenaing party may compel production, if the reporter refuses to comply with the demands of the subpoena.
What is a motion to compel settlement?
One of the most common practices to enforce a settlement agreement is to file a motion to enforce settlement agreement in court. This motion calls on the court to enforce the agreed upon terms, and the judge has the final say. His or her role is to analyze evidence presented and listen to oral testimony by both sides.
What happens if a motion is denied?
The court will then decide as to whether the motion is granted or denied. If the motion is granted, it means that the document or proceeding in question is declared invalid or void. If the motion is denied, the document or proceeding remains in effect, and the case or legal process will continue.
Do judges read motions before court?
If you are referring to motions on legal issues the judge will review them in the course of the hearing or trial. If you are referring to documents to be submitted as evidence the judge may rule on their relevance and/or admissibility prior to going forward .
What is the lazy judge rule?
If the court fails to rule, on a motion of a party, commonly referred to as the Lazy Judge rule, the case may be withdrawn from the trial court judge and transferred to the Supreme Court for assignment to a Special Judge to decide. In most cases, it is not prudent or wise to file a lazy judge motion.