Indiana Motion to Compel

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Settle which device you are chasing before drafting anything, because in Indiana one of them does not take this motion. Trial Rule 36(E) is captioned 'Motion to compel and order' and its first sentence says a motion to compel and order are not required where a party fails to admit or deny under subdivision (C). An unanswered request for admission is simply admitted, and Rule 36(F) makes an admission conclusively established unless the court permits withdrawal or amendment. Where the other side did answer or object, Rule 36(E) gives you a motion with respect to the answers or objections, and the relief is different in kind: the court may order either that the matter is admitted or that an amended answer be served, or send final disposition of the request to a pre-trial conference.

2. 2

   For every other device the authority is Trial Rule 37(A)(2), the provision captioned 'Motion' under the subdivision heading 'Motion for order compelling discovery'. It reaches a deponent who fails to answer a question under Rule 30 or 31, an organization that fails to make a designation under Rule 30(B)(6) or 31(A), a party that fails to answer a Rule 33 interrogatory, a failure to respond or to permit inspection under a Rule 34 request, and a refusal to allow inspection of a written instrument under Rule 9.2(E), which has no federal counterpart. Rule 37(A)(3) then provides that for purposes of that subdivision an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer. Indiana writes its subdivisions as capital letters, so it is 37(A) and not 37(a).

3. 3

   Trial Rule 26(F), captioned 'Informal Resolution of Discovery Disputes', makes the motion itself carry a statement, and the rule prescribes what that statement recites: the date, time and place of the effort to reach agreement, whether in person or by phone, and the names of all parties and attorneys participating therein. The stated consequence is that the court may deny a discovery motion filed by a party who has failed to comply with the requirements of the subsection, so it is a risk of denial rather than an automatic bar. Rule 26(F) binds both sides of a discovery fight, because it reaches any discovery motion seeking to enforce, modify or limit discovery.

4. 4

   Rule 37(A)(4) is captioned 'Award of expenses of motion' and the verb is shall. On a granted motion the court shall, after opportunity for hearing, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, or the party or attorney advising such conduct, or both of them, to pay the moving party's reasonable expenses in obtaining the order including attorney's fees, unless it finds the opposition was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. The same shall runs the other way on a denied motion, against the moving party or the attorney advising the motion or both. On a split result the court may apportion. Rule 36(E) imports 37(A)(4) for the admissions motion as well.

5. 5

   Winning against a non-party costs the movant money in Indiana, which is the reverse of what the expense award leads you to expect. Non-party documents run through Rule 34(G) rather than a bare subpoena, and 34(G)(5) provides that in granting an order under that subsection and Rule 37(A)(2) the court must condition relief upon the prepayment of damages to be proximately incurred by the witness or person to whom the request is directed, or require an adequate surety bond or other indemnity, and that such damages must include reasonable attorneys' fees incurred in reasonable resistance. The forum can change too: Rule 37(A)(1) says an application for an order to a deponent who is not a party shall be made to the court in the county where the deposition is being taken.

6. 6

   Indiana does not supply a flat thirty-day answer period. It supplies a floor, and the serving party fills in the rest. Rule 33(C) gives the responding party a period designated by the party submitting the interrogatories, not less than thirty days after the service thereof, and Rules 34(D) and 36(C) use the same formula for requests and for admissions, each adding or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow. So the operative due date is printed on the face of the request rather than supplied by the rule, and a request demanding an answer in fewer than thirty days is non-conforming. Requests for admission also have their own service window at Rule 36(B): not earlier than ten days after the issues are first closed on the merits, or thirty days from commencement of the action where no responsive pleading is required, and they must be served separately from any other form of discovery.

7. 7

   Rule 37 gives you no outside date. Across the whole of the current rule, subdivisions (A) through (D), there is no waiver clause, no outside date and no promptness standard for bringing the motion, so a dispute that has been sitting is still movable. Two other things to check. Since January 1, 2026 the letters have moved: the old failure-to-admit expense provision left Rule 37 for Rule 36(G), old 37(D) is now 37(C) and old 37(E) is now 37(D), so an older citation lands on the wrong provision. And the objections you are fighting may already be void, because Rules 33(B), 34(E) and 36(D) each provide that general objections must not be made and will have no effect, with Rule 34(E) adding that any objection must state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection.

Indiana Requirements for Motion to Compel

• Which Device Went Unanswered, Because Admissions Do Not Take This Motion

  Settle this first. Trial Rule 36(E) provides that a motion to compel and order are not required where a party fails to admit or deny under subdivision (C), because an unanswered request for admission is simply admitted and Rule 36(F) makes an admission conclusively established unless the court permits withdrawal or amendment. Where answers or objections did arrive and you say they are inadequate, the vehicle is still Rule 36(E), whose relief is an order that the matter is admitted or that an amended answer be served. Interrogatories, Rule 34 requests, deposition answers, Rule 30(B)(6) designations and inspection under Rule 9.2(E) are the ones that go to Trial Rule 37(A)(2).

• The Citation Written Indiana's Way, With Its Capital Subdivision Letter

  Cite Ind. Trial Rule 37(A)(2), the provision captioned Motion under the subdivision heading Motion for order compelling discovery, and add Rule 37(A)(3) for the proposition that an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer. Indiana writes its subdivisions as capital letters, so 37(a)(2) is federal style and will not match the published rule. Rule 37's other subdivisions are different situations: (B) is failure to comply with an order already entered, (C) is a total failure to appear or respond, (D) is electronically stored information.

• The Due Date Taken Off the Face of the Request, Not Off the Rule

  Rule 33(C) gives the responding party a period designated by the party submitting the interrogatories, not less than thirty days after the service thereof, or such shorter or longer time as the court may allow, and Rules 34(D) and 36(C) carry the same formula. So thirty days is the floor on what a requesting party may demand rather than the period the rule supplies, and the operative due date is the one printed in the request. A motion filed before that date has run is premature. Requests for admission also have a service window at Rule 36(B) and must be served separately from any other form of discovery.

• The Rule 26(F) Recital, Inside the Motion, With Its Five Prescribed Items

  Trial Rule 26(F), captioned Informal Resolution of Discovery Disputes, requires the moving party to include in the motion a statement showing a reasonable effort to reach agreement, and the rule enumerates what it recites: the date, the time and the place of that effort, whether it was in person or by phone, and the names of all parties and attorneys participating therein. The stated consequence is discretionary, that the court may deny a discovery motion filed by a party who has failed to comply with the requirements of the subsection. Rule 26(F) reaches any discovery motion seeking to enforce, modify or limit discovery, so it binds whichever side is moving.

• Each Item and Each Response Set Out Separately

  No Indiana rule prescribes a separate statement or a statement of discovery issues for this motion, and none was located anywhere in the statewide rules, so there is no second document to prepare. That makes the body of the motion the only place the dispute is set out. Take each interrogatory or request in turn, give the response or objection as served, and say why it does not answer the question. Rules 33(B), 34(E) and 36(D) help here: each provides that general objections must not be made and will have no effect, and Rule 34(E) adds that any objection must state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection.

• The Expense Request at 37(A)(4), and Your Own Exposure Under the Same Verb

  Rule 37(A)(4) provides that if the motion is granted the court shall, after opportunity for hearing, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, or the party or attorney advising such conduct, or both of them, to pay the moving party's reasonable expenses in obtaining the order including attorney's fees, unless the court finds the opposition was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. The same shall runs against the moving party or the attorney advising the motion if it is denied, and on a split result the court may apportion. Rule 36(E) imports this provision for the admissions motion. Rule 37(C) uses must rather than shall for a total failure to respond, so quote the subdivision you are citing.

• If the Target Is a Non-Party, the Prepayment Condition and the Forum Both Change

  Non-party documents run through Rule 34(G), and 34(G)(5) provides that in granting an order under that subsection and Rule 37(A)(2) the court must condition relief upon the prepayment of damages to be proximately incurred by the witness or person to whom the request is directed, or require an adequate surety bond or other indemnity, with such damages to include reasonable attorneys' fees incurred in reasonable resistance. So a granted order against a non-party costs the movant money. Forum changes too: Rule 37(A)(1) sends an application for an order to a deponent who is not a party to the court in the county where the deposition is being taken.

• A Check That Your Form Is Not Quoting Pre-2026 Subdivision Letters

  Indiana rewrote its discovery rules effective January 1, 2026 and the letters inside Rule 37 moved. The old 37(C) on expenses for a failure to admit left Rule 37 for Rule 36(G); the old 37(D), for a party that never appeared or never served any response, is now 37(C); and the old 37(E) is now 37(D). An older form citing 37(D) for a total failure now points at the electronically stored information provision. Two things did not move: Rule 37(A)(1) through (A)(4) were carried forward unchanged, and Indiana did not adopt proportionality or any numerical cap, so do not print an interrogatory limit for Indiana.