However, you can object to interrogatories that call for legal conclusions. You can also object to questions if they are not at all related to the court case. To object, you need to write out the reasons for the objection instead of answering the question.
You can use interrogatories to find out facts about a case but they cannot be used for questions that draw a legal conclusion.
Interrogatories allow the parties to ask who, what, when, where and why questions, making them a good method for obtaining new information in a case. There are two types of interrogatories: form interrogatories and special interrogatories.
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 governmental agency, by any officer or agent, who shall furnish such information as is available to the party.
Common objections include: The request is impermissibly compound. The request is vague, ambiguous or unintelligible. The request is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of relevant, admissible evidence. Introduction to Discovery – Part 5: Responding to Form Interrogatories.
The original special 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.
An interrogatory is improper if it asks for pure speculation based on hypothetical facts without foundation or requests an answer to a question based on a wrong assumption.
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.
2030.210. (a) The party to whom interrogatories have been propounded shall respond in writing under oath separately to each interrogatory by any of the following: (1) An answer containing the information sought to be discovered. (2) An exercise of the party's option to produce writings.
Read each question (interrogatory) 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.