9-11-33
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9-11-33.
(a)
Availability;
procedures for use.
(1)
Any party may serve upon any other party written interrogatories to be answered
by the party served or, if the party served is a public or private corporation
or a partnership or association or a 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; provided, however, that no party may
serve interrogatories containing more than 50 interrogatories, including
subparts, upon any other party without leave of court upon a showing of complex
litigation or undue hardship incurred if such additional interrogatories are not
permitted.
(2)
Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath,
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 30 days after the service of the interrogatories,
except that a defendant may serve answers or objections within 45 days after
service of the summons and complaint upon that defendant. The court may allow a
shorter or longer time. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an
order under subsection (a) of Code Section 9-11-37 with respect to any objection
to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.
(b)
Scope; use at
trial.
(1)
Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired into under
subsection (b) of Code Section 9-11-26, and the answers may be used to the
extent permitted by the rules of evidence.
(2)
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 to 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 pretrial 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 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 the 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.