Texas Motion to Compel

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A Texas motion to compel asks the court to order discovery that was not answered, and Rule 191.2 is the first thing to get right. Every discovery motion must contain a certificate by the filing party that a reasonable effort was made to resolve the dispute without court intervention and that the effort failed. Two propositions, both required. The rule prescribes a document, who signs it and what it says, so it is more than the good-faith clause the federal rule carries.

2. 2

   Rule 215.1 is titled Motion for Sanctions or Order Compelling Discovery, and the title is doing work. The closing paragraph of Rule 215.1(b) lets a party seek the sanctions authorised by Rule 215.2(b) without the necessity of first having obtained a court order compelling the discovery. So in Texas the compel order is a step you may take rather than one you must take before asking for anything stronger.

3. 3

   Requests for admission do not go through the motion to compel at all, and if nothing came back there is no motion to file. Rule 198.2(c) provides that a request not timely responded to is deemed admitted without the need for a court order. If an answer was served and it is evasive or objected to, the vehicle is Rule 215.4(a), a motion to determine the sufficiency of the answer or objection. Filing a motion to compel on a request for admission is filing the wrong paper.

4. 4

   Settle the discovery control plan level before drafting, because it decides what can be compelled. Rule 190.1 requires every case to be in a plan and the plaintiff to plead the level in the first numbered paragraph of the original petition. Level 1 applies to expedited actions under Rule 169, which as amended in 2026 means a case pleading only monetary relief aggregating $325,000 or less, and Level 1 allows no more than 15 interrogatories, 15 requests for production and 15 requests for admission, counting each discrete subpart separately. A Level 1 party can refuse the sixteenth request outright.

5. 5

   Level 2 is the default and is more generous but not unlimited: no more than 25 written interrogatories, again counting discrete subparts, with no numeric cap on requests for production or requests for admission, and 50 hours of deposition time per side against 20 hours per party in Level 1. Level 3 is a plan the court tailors by order under Rule 190.4. The caps can be changed by agreement or by court order for good cause under Rule 191.1.

6. 6

   The expense award is mandatory one way and discretionary the other, which is unusual. Rule 215.1(d) says that if the motion is granted the court shall require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated it, or the party or attorney advising that conduct, or both, to pay the movant's reasonable expenses including attorney fees, unless the opposition was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award unjust. If the motion is denied the court may make the mirror award against the movant. Rule 215.1(d) adds two sentences with no federal counterpart: the award shall be reasonable in relation to the amount of work reasonably expended, and such an order is subject to review on appeal from the final judgment.

7. 7

   Count the response clock as a flat 30 days. Rules 197.2(a), 196.2(a) and 198.2(a) each give 30 days from service of the request. There is a 50-day period in the same sentence, but all three rules confine it in identical words to a defendant in a suit governed by the Family Code who was served with a request before the answer was due, so it does not reach an ordinary civil case. Rule 197.2(d) separately requires the responding party, not an agent or attorney, to sign interrogatory answers under oath, with exceptions for answers based on information from others and for questions about persons with knowledge, trial witnesses and legal contentions.

Texas Requirements for Motion to Compel

• The Rule 191.2 Certificate, Saying Both That You Tried and That It Failed

  Rule 191.2 requires that all discovery motions or requests for hearings relating to discovery contain a certificate by the party filing the motion that a reasonable effort has been made to resolve the dispute without the necessity of court intervention and the effort failed. It is two propositions and the second is the one commonly omitted. The certificate goes inside the motion rather than alongside it, and it is by the party filing. Note that the phrase Texas practitioners use for this, certificate of conference, appears nowhere in the statewide rules, although many individual courts use it in their own local rules.

• Which Discovery Control Plan Level the Case Is In

  Rule 190.1 requires every case to be governed by a discovery control plan and the plaintiff to plead the level in the first numbered paragraph of the original petition, so this is on the face of the pleadings. Level 1 attaches to an expedited action under Rule 169, which after the 2026 amendment means a case pleading only monetary relief aggregating $325,000 or less, and Rule 190.2(b) caps it at 15 interrogatories, 15 requests for production and 15 requests for admission with each discrete subpart counted separately. Level 2 allows 25 interrogatories and sets no numeric cap on production or admission requests. Level 3 is tailored by order under Rule 190.4. A request beyond the cap is refusable without a motion, so settle this before complaining about the answer.

• Which of the Three Vehicles Your Situation Needs

  Texas gives three different documents. A Rule 215.1 motion for a missing or non-answer to interrogatories under Rule 197, to a request for production under Rule 196, or to a deposition question. A Rule 193.4 noticed hearing where the dispute is an objection or a claim of privilege, at which the party seeking to avoid discovery must present supporting evidence. And a Rule 215.4(a) motion to determine the sufficiency of an answer or objection to a request for admission. Picking the wrong one of the three is the common way these fail in Texas.

• Confirmation That You Are Not in the Deemed-Admitted Situation

  If the device was requests for admission and nothing came back, there is no motion to file. Rule 198.2(c) provides that a request not timely responded to is considered admitted without the necessity of a court order, so the admission has already happened by operation of the rule. Check this before drafting, because a motion to compel here asks the court to order something that has occurred, and the real question becomes whether the other side will seek to withdraw or amend the admission under Rule 198.3.

• The 30-Day Computation, and Why the 50-Day Period Probably Does Not Apply

  Rules 197.2(a), 196.2(a) and 198.2(a) each require a written response within 30 days after service of the request. The same sentence in each rule carries a 50-day period, but all three confine it in identical words to a defendant in a suit governed by the Family Code who was served with the request before the defendant's answer was due, so it does not reach an ordinary civil money case. State the computation in the motion. The period can be modified by agreement or court order under Rule 191.1, and an agreement is enforceable if it complies with Rule 11.

• Each Disputed Item, With the Request and the Response Quoted

  Texas prescribes no separate statement, so the motion itself has to do this work. Take the disputed items one at a time: the request as served, the whole of the response including every objection, then what is missing. Rule 215.1(c) directs that an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer, so you do not have to show bad faith, but you do have to show the court the gap on each item. Where an objection was made and an answer then given subject to it, say so, because that pairing leaves nobody able to tell whether anything was withheld.

• The Right Court, Which Differs for Deposition Disputes

  Rule 215.1(a) splits the forum by subject matter and it is the one place in the Texas rules where a motion to compel may belong somewhere other than the court with the case. A dispute about a party's deposition may be brought in the court where the action is pending or in any district court in the district where the deposition is being taken. A dispute about a non-party deponent shall be brought in the court in the district where the deposition is being taken. Written discovery has no alternative forum: it goes to the court where the action is pending.

• The Expense Request, and the Asymmetry You Are Exposed To

  Rule 215.1(d) is mandatory one way and discretionary the other. On a granted motion the court shall require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, or the party or attorney advising that conduct, or both, to pay the movant's reasonable expenses including attorney fees, unless the opposition was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award unjust. On a denied motion the court may make the mirror award against the movant or the attorney advising the motion. Two sentences have no federal counterpart and shape what you should ask for: the award shall be reasonable in relation to the amount of work reasonably expended in obtaining the order, and such an order is subject to review on appeal from the final judgment. Support the amount with a declaration.