§ RULE 4:8. INTERROGATORIES TO PARTIES

Codes > Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia > Part Four. > RULE 4:8.

RULE 4:8. INTERROGATORIES TO PARTIES

(a) Availability; Procedures for Use. 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 complaint upon that party.

(b) Form.The party answering the interrogatories shall restate each question, by photocopying it or otherwise, then insert the word “Answer” and immediately thereafter state the response to that question. The answering party shall attach the necessary oath and certificate of service to the answers.

(c) Filing.

(1) Interrogatories and answers or objections thereto shall not be filed unless the court directs such filing on its own initiative or upon the request of any party prior to or during the trial.

(2) When the propriety or sufficiency of any interrogatory, answer or objection, or the service thereof, is challenged, or any other issue concerning such discovery is presented to the court for decision, copies of the relevant items, including any applicable certificates of service, shall be made available to the court by counsel.

(3) In an Electronically Filed Case, submission of interrogatories, answers, objections and certificates of service as provided in subdivisions (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this Rule shall be made by filing an electronic or digitally imaged copy thereof, unless the court directs otherwise.

(d) Answers. 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 21 days after the service of the interrogatories, except that a defendant may serve answers or objections within 28 days after service of the bill of complaint or motion for judgment upon that defendant. The court may allow a shorter or longer time. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Rule 4:12(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.

(e) Scope; Use. Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired into under Rule 4:1(b), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence and for the purposes of Rule 3:20. Only such interrogatories and the answers thereto as are offered in evidence shall become a part of the record.

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.

(f) Option to Produce Business Records. Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from the business 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 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. A specification shall be in sufficient detail to permit the interrogating party to locate and to identify, as readily as can the party served, the records from which the answer may be ascertained. A specification of electronically stored information may be made under this Rule if the information will be made available in a reasonably usable form or forms.

(g) Limitation on Interrogatories. No party shall serve upon any other party, at any one time or cumulatively, more than thirty written interrogatories, including all parts and sub-parts, without leave of court for good cause shown.