Title 9, Chapter 11, Section 33
( 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. |