Rule 4009.12.Answer to Request Upon a Party for Production of Documents and Things.

Adopted April 7, 1997 · Last amended June 6, 2012 · Last verified June 30, 2026

In one sentenceA party served with a production request must, within thirty days, serve a paragraph-by-paragraph answer stating objections and identifying what is produced, and produce the documents to which there is no objection.

Full Text of Rule 4009.12

Text sizeJump to: (a) (b) (c) (d)

(a) The party upon whom the request is served shall within thirty days after the service of the request

(1) serve an answer including objections to each numbered paragraph in the request, and

(2) produce or make available to the party submitting the request those documents and things described in the request to which there is no objection.

(i) Where the documents may be identified only after review of a larger group of documents, and the burden of identifying the documents would be substantially the same for the party serving the request as for the party served, the party served may afford the party serving the request reasonable opportunity to identify the documents, to examine or inspect them and to obtain copies.

(b) The answer shall be in the form of a paragraph-by-paragraph response which shall

(1) identify all documents or things produced or made available;

(2) identify all documents or things not produced or made available because of the objection that they are not within the scope of permissible discovery under Rule 4003.2 through Rule 4003.6 inclusive and Rule 4011(c). Documents or things not produced shall be identified with reasonable particularity together with the basis for non-production;

(3) specify a larger group of documents or things from which the documents or things to be produced or made available may be identified as provided by subdivision (a)(2)(i);

(4) object to the request on the grounds set forth in Rule 4011(a), (b), and

(e) or on the ground that the request does not meet the requirements of Rule 4009.11;

(5) state that after reasonable investigation, it has been determined that there are no documents responsive to the request.

(c) The answer shall be signed and verified by the party making it and signed also by the attorney making an objection if one is set forth.

(d) If a request if reasonably susceptible to one construction under which documents sought to be produced are within the scope of the request and another construction under which the documents are outside the scope of the request, the answering party shall either produce the documents or identify with reasonable particularity the documents not produced together with the basis for non-production.

End

Plain-English Summary

This rule sets the response to a party production request. Within thirty days, the responding party serves an answer that objects, paragraph by paragraph, to each numbered request and produces or makes available the documents to which there is no objection. The answer identifies what is produced, what is withheld and why, and may raise the grounds the discovery-limitation rule allows.

It is signed and verified by the party and signed by the attorney making any objection. Where a request can reasonably be read to cover documents and just as reasonably read not to, the party must either produce them or identify them with reasonable particularity and give the basis for withholding them. The structured, verified answer makes clear exactly what was produced and what is in dispute.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is there to answer a production request?

Thirty days after service of the request.

What must the answer say?

A paragraph-by-paragraph response identifying what is produced, what is withheld and why, verified by the party.

Official Note

Official Note: The party who is requested to produce documents or things is encouraged to identify the documents or things produced and the documents or things withheld through a system of numbering. The party producing the documents and things and the party receiving them are encouraged to keep a current list of the documents and things produced and withheld based on the numbering system. This procedure will assist the court in resolving disputes arising out of production of documents. Ordinarily, each page of a document should receive a separate number. However, a document may be assigned a number as a whole if it is bound or if it contains pages which are sequentially numbered. The court may require numbering.

Official Note: See Rule 4009.1 regarding electronically stored information.

Amendment History

The provisions of this Rule 4009.12 adopted April 7, 1997, effective July 1, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 1921; amended June 6, 2012, effective August 1, 2012, 42 Pa.B. 3574. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (303601) to (303602).

Source & verification. Rule text, the Official Note, and the amendment history are reproduced verbatim from the Pennsylvania Code, Title 231, the official compilation of rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Last verified June 30, 2026. · Official text

Also known as: answer to production request