Service Of Interrogatories Federal Rules In Riverside
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Interrogatories may, without leave of court, be served upon the plaintiff after filing of the complaint and upon any other party with or after service of the summons and complaint upon that party.
(a) A defendant may propound interrogatories to a party to the action without leave of court at any time. (b) A plaintiff may propound interrogatories to a party without leave of court at any time that is 10 days after the service of the summons on, or appearance by, that party, whichever occurs first.
The purpose of this requirement—that defendant have time to obtain counsel before a response must be made—is adequately fulfilled by the requirement that interrogatories be served upon a party with or after service of the summons and complaint upon him.
Unless leave of court is obtained, interrogatories may not be served prior to the meeting of the parties under Rule 26(f).
Civ. P. 33(b)(1)(B), (3) and (5), and Petitioner never moved to compel a proper verification.” Under Rule 33, answers to interrogatories must be verified and must be signed by the person answering the interrogatory, not only by the party's attorney.
A photocopy of your form interrogatories must be served on the attorney for the responding party or directly to the responding party if he or she is self-represented (in pro per). Courtesy copies should be served on all other attorneys or self-represented parties in the case.
The original form interrogatories and signed proof of service should be retained for your records. If the other party does not respond to your requests, you may use these documents to support a motion to have the court compel responses.
You can use Proof of Service by First Class Mail (form POS-030). It helps if you fill in the top part of the form with the case and court information. Your server can then fill in the information about how, when, and where they served the papers. Your server must then sign the form.
Draft Interrogatories Strategically Only ask specific questions that address the crux of the matter where possible. Avoid board or vague questions. The opposing party's legal team may simply file objections against these, citing irrelevance, wasting your time. Also, ask questions sequentially.
Read the question very carefully. Answer only the question that is asked, and avoid the temptation to over-explain your answer. If the question contains several parts, you may break your answer into parts as well. It is also possible that you might object to the question.