On September 2, 2026, the Second Department issued a decision in Ramos v. 126th St. Equities, LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op. 05201, holding that a notice to admit may not address legal conclusions or facts that go to the heart of the dispute, explaining:
CPLR 3123(a) provides, in relevant part, that a party may serve upon any other party a written request for admission by the latter of the truth of any matters of fact set forth in the request, as to which the party requesting the admission reasonably believes there can be no substantial dispute at the trial and which are within the knowledge of such other party or can be ascertained by him or her upon reasonable inquiry. The purpose of a notice to admit is only to eliminate from contention those matters that are not in dispute in the litigation and that may be readily disposed of. A notice to admit is not to be employed to obtain information in lieu of other disclosure devices or to compel admissions of fundamental and material issues or contested ultimate facts.
CPLR 3103(a) provides, in relevant part, that a court may at any time make a protective order denying, limiting, conditioning or regulating the use of any disclosure device. The supervision of disclosure and the setting of reasonable terms and conditions therefor rests within the sound discretion of the trial court and, absent an improvident exercise of that discretion, its determination will not be disturbed.
Here, the notice to admit improperly either sought the plaintiff’s admissions to legal conclusions or went to the heart of the matter. Moreover, the information sought may be obtained through discovery, including, among other things, depositions.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).