§ Rule 33 Interrogatories to parties
Rule 33. Interrogatories to parties.
(a) Availability; procedures for use. Any party may serve upon any other party written interrogatories in accordance with subdivision (d) of this rule to be answered by the party served or, if the party served is a public or private corporation or a partnership or association or governmental agency, by any officer or agent, who shall furnish such information as is available to the party. Interrogatories may, without leave of court, be served upon the plaintiff after commencement of the action and upon any other party with or after service of the summons and complaint upon that party.
A party shall not propound more than forty (40) interrogatories to any other party without leave of court. Upon motion, and for good cause shown, the court may increase the number of interrogatories that a party may serve upon another party. For purposes of this rule, (1) any subpart or separable question (whether or not separately numbered, lettered, or paragraphed) propounded under an interrogatory shall be considered a separate interrogatory, and (2) the word “party” includes all parties represented by the same lawyer or firm. When the number of interrogatories exceeds forty (40) without leave of court, the party upon whom the interrogatories have been served need only answer or object to the first forty (40) interrogatories.
Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath in accordance with subdivision (d) of this rule, unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons for objection shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The answers are to be signed by the person making them, and the objections signed by the attorney making them. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers, and objections if any, within thirty (30) days after the service of the interrogatories, except that the defendant may serve answers or objections within forty-five (45) days after service of the summons and the complaint upon that defendant. The court may allow a shorter or longer time. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Rule 37(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory. If that party so moves, the motion must set forth the complete text of an interrogatory to which objection is made and the complete text of the objection.
(b) Scope; use at trial. Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired into under Rule 26(b), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence.
An interrogatory otherwise proper is not necessarily objectionable merely because an answer to the interrogatory involves an opinion or contention that relates to fact or the application of law to fact, but the court may order that such an interrogatory need not be answered until after designated discovery has been completed or until a pre-trial conference or other later time.
(c) Option to Produce Business Records. Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from the business records, including electronically stored information, of the party upon whom the interrogatory has been served or from an examination, audit, or inspection of such business records, or from a compilation, abstract, or summary based thereon, and the burden of deriving or ascertaining the answer is substantially the same for the party serving the interrogatory as for the party served, it is a sufficient answer to such interrogatory to specify the records from which the answer may be derived or ascertained and to afford to the party serving the interrogatory reasonable opportunity to examine, audit, or inspect such records and to make copies, compilations, abstracts, or summaries. A specification shall be in sufficient detail to permit the interrogating party to locate and to identify, as readily as can the party served, the records from which the answer may be ascertained.
(d) Form of interrogatories and answers. A party propounding interrogatories shall provide sufficient space for a response to each interrogatory. The party responding to interrogatories may either (1) make answers on the spaces provided or (2) retype or otherwise reproduce each interrogatory and state the answer after each interrogatory, or (3) disregard the space provided and prepare answers separately from the interrogatories. If the responding party elects to answer on the space provided and the space is inadequate, additional pages may be used with a reference in the space to the additional pages.
(dc) District court rule. Rule 33 applies in the district courts in those instances where interrogatories are permitted by Rule 26(dc).