§ Rule 33 Interrogatories

Rule 33. Interrogatories

(a) Interrogatories to Parties--Availability--Procedures for Use.

(1) Use of 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. 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.

(2) Answers to Interrogatories. 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 may be signed by the attorney making them. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve the original of the answers, and objections if any, within 30 days after the service of the interrogatories. The court may allow a shorter or longer time. The answers shall first set forth each interrogatory asked, followed by the answer or response of the party. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Rule 37(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer any interrogatory.

(3) Number of Interrogatories. No party shall serve upon any other single party to an action more than forty (40) interrogatories, in which subparts of interrogatories shall count as separate interrogatories, without first obtaining a stipulation of such party to additional interrogatories or obtaining an order of the court upon a showing of good cause granting leave to serve a specific number of additional interrogatories.

(4) Not Filed With Court. The interrogatories and the response thereto shall not be filed with the court. The propounding party shall retain both the original of the interrogatories and the original of the answers with the original proof of service affixed thereto, and the original of the sworn response until one (1) year after final disposition of the action. At that time, both originals may be destroyed, unless the court on motion of any party and for good cause shown orders that the originals be preserved for a longer period.

(5) Notice of Serving. The party serving either an interrogatory or a response thereto, shall file with the court a notice of when the interrogatory or response was served and upon whom.

(b) Scope--Use of Interrogatories at Trial or on Motions.

(1) Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired into under Rule 26(b), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the Idaho Rules of Evidence.

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 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 pre-trial conference or other later time.

(2) If interrogatories and responses thereto are to be used at trial or are to be used either in support of, or in opposition to, a pretrial or post-trial motion, only those portions to be used shall be submitted to the court at the outset of the trial or at the filing of the motion or response thereto insofar as their use can be reasonably anticipated by the party seeking to introduce such evidence. For purposes of this rule, and unless a genuine issue of authenticity is raised a moving party need not produce portions of the original interrogatories and responses thereto, but may rely on the submission of copies of the relevant original interrogatories and responses.

(3) Interrogatories and responses thereto which have been submitted to the court pursuant to this Rule shall be returned to appropriate counsel after final disposition of the case.

Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from the business or other records, including electronically stored information, of the party upon whom the interrogatory has been served or from an examination, audit or inspection of such business or other 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 such 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.

The rule headings for Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure have been editorially supplied.