Interrogatories are lists of questions sent to the other party that s/he must respond to in writing. You can use interrogatories to find out facts about a case but they cannot be used for questions that draw a legal conclusion.
Without leave of court or written stipulation, any party may serve upon any other party written interrogatories, not exceeding 25 in number including all discrete subparts, to be answered by the party served or, if the party served is a public or private corporation, a partnership, an association, or a governmental ...
(a) Interrogatories are written questions prepared by a party to an action that are sent to any other party in the action to be answered under oath.
Whether to admit interrogatory answers is within the discretion of the trial court, just as with any other evidence, and a trial court's refusal to admit such evidence will only be reversed upon a showing of manifest abuse of that discretion.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart that “pretrial depositions and interrogatories are not public components of a civil trial.
Some people ignore interrogatories instead of answering them, but that could be a huge mistake. You must answer the questions or file objections to certain questions or the entire set of interrogatories.
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.
A: In California, a privilege log is typically not required when responding to interrogatories, as opposed to requests for production of documents. This is because interrogatories seek information, not the production of privileged documents.
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.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart that “pretrial depositions and interrogatories are not public components of a civil trial. Such proceedings were not open to the public at common law, and, in general, they are conducted in private as a matter of modern practice.”