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In this lesson, you will learn what a request for interrogatories is, the common local rules to watch for, and how to notify the court that you have served interrogatories on the opposing party.
INTERROGATORIES – Interrogatories are written questions from one party to another.
They must be answered within a certain time period (usually 30 days).
Tips for writing your request
- First, identify yourself and the respondent.
- Define any foreign terms used in your request.
- Choose your questions wisely, most jurisdictions limit the number of questions you may ask (usually 29 questions).
- Number your interrogatories consecutively.
- After you serve the request, make sure to file a notice of serving your request for interrogatories.
Transcript
In interrogatories are written request for information, often in the form of questions from one party to the other.
Interrogatories must be answered in writing under oath or under penalty of perjury, and they must be answered within a limited time period. Usually thirty days. This is true for all of the written discovery.
Now to prepare a request for interrogatories, you want to, in the first paragraph, identify yourself, and the respondent — that is the party to whom that request is being sent.
Provide any necessary instructions, including the deadline for returning responses, usually about thirty days.
You want to define any terms used in your interrogatories to eliminate confusion. As you might expect if you are having to respond to a request for interrogatories, it\’s helpful to create confusion about the terminology. And so if you want to avoid that, offer a definition of any unfamiliar terms that you\’re using in your interrogatories.
You want to choose your questions strategically because in most jurisdictions, there\’s a limit on the number of questions you can ask. Twenty-nine questions is a common number there.
You want to number your interrogatories consecutively: question number five, question number nine, and so forth.
Keep your questions simple. That is, make it very clear what it is that you are asking.
Try not to ask compound questions. You\’ll be tempted to get around the limit on the number of questions by combining them into sub questions. Don\’t do that. Compound questions are often grounds for objecting, to the whole request.
You want to make sure that each of your questions is full and complete.
Now try not to combine your interrogatories with a request for admissions. These are different instruments, and they require different types of responses.
So you need to decide when to send your request for admissions, your request for interrogatories and all of the other instruments. But try not to combine them. Try not to send them all at the same time.
Again, you want to serve your request for interrogatories. You can file it if you want, usually, but it\’s not necessary. You simply need to file a notice of serving your request for interrogatories.