Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Can we give yes / no anwers to Discovery questions?

The best advice you can get is to hire an attorney.

Having decided to try this on your own...

There are only four responses that you should give to Requests for Admissions:

1) Admit so much of the matter involved in the request as is true, either as expressed in the request itself or as reasonably and clearly qualified by the responding party.

2)Deny so much of the matter involved in the request as is untrue.

3)State that after a reasonable inquiry into the specific request, the information known or readily obtainable is insufficient to enable Admission.

4) Object.

Do not try and argue your case here. If the other side did its job correctly, they should have also sent you form interrogatories. 17.1 requires you to provide an explanation for each denial. If they did not, then don't give them something they did not ask for.

Re: Can we give yes / no anwers to Discovery questions?

Ordinarily the answer is either "admit" or "deny", though sometimes it is necessary to admit in part and deny in part or to state that you don't know either way. It is also common to object to some requests, though usually objecting will not excuse you from answering.

The party that served the requests for admission probably also served interrogatories at the same time, including one that calls for an explanation of each answer that wasn't a complete admission.

In state court, you are not required to reveal the existence of evidence the other side doesn't ask you for. Federal courts generally require more disclosures than do their state counterparts.

Answering discovery is hazardous, and many of the hazards will not be apparent to most laypeople. You should get a lawyer if at all possible.