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Rule 1.509 – Interrogatories to parties

May 13, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Iowa

1. 509(1)Availability; procedures for use.

a. Except in small claims, any party may serve written interrogatories to be answered by another party or, if the other party 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.
b. Each interrogatory, unless the court has ordered otherwise, must be provided in an electronic word processing format. An interrogatory that does not comply with this requirement shall be subject to objection.
c. Each interrogatory must, to the extent it is not objected to, be answered separately and fully in writing under oath. The grounds for objecting to an interrogatory must be stated with specificity. Any ground not stated in a timely objection is waived unless the court, for good cause, excuses the failure. A party may answer an interrogatory in whole or in part subject to an objection without waiving that objection. Any answer so provided is subject to the duty to supplement set forth in rule 1.503(4), but the party does not waive the objection by supplementing. Where an answer is provided subject to an objection, the answering party must specify the extent to which the requested information has not been provided.
d. A party answering interrogatories must set out each interrogatory immediately preceding the answer to it. A failure to comply with this rule shall be deemed a failure to answer and shall be subject to sanctions as provided in rule 1.517. Answers are to be signed by the person making them. Answers shall not be filed; however, they shall be served upon all adverse parties within 30 days after the interrogatories are served. Objections, if any, must be signed by the attorney who objects and must be served within 30 days after the interrogatories are served. The court may allow a shorter or longer time. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under rule 1.517(1) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.
e. Except as provided in rule 1.509(4), or unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court for good cause shown, a party must not serve on any other party more than 30 interrogatories, including all discrete subparts. Any discrete subpart to a nonpattern interrogatory will be considered a separate interrogatory. A motion for leave of court to serve more than 30 interrogatories must be in writing and shall set forth the proposed interrogatories and the reasons establishing good cause for their use.
1. 509(2)Scope; use at trial.

a. Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired into under rule 1.503, including a statement of the specific dollar amount of money damages claimed, the amounts claimed for separate items of damage, and the names and addresses of witnesses the party expects to call to testify at the trial. Interrogatory answers may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence.
b. 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 pretrial conference or other later time.
1. 509(3)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 party serving the interrogatory to locate and identify as readily as can the party served, the records from which the answer may be ascertained.
1. 509(4)Pattern interrogatories. The supreme court, by supervisory order or otherwise, may approve pattern interrogatories for different classes of cases. Any pattern interrogatory and its subparts are counted as one interrogatory.

Iowa. R. Civ. P. 1.509

Report 1943; amendment 1957; amendment 1973; amendment 1975; amendment 1976; amendment 1980; amendment 1983; amendment 1984; Report April 30, 1987, effective July 1, 1987; November 30, 1993, effective March 1, 1994; September 23,1994, effective January 3, 1995; October 31,1997, effective January 24, 1998; November 9, 2001, effective February 15, 2002; February 17, 2006, effective May 1, 2006; February 14, 2008, effective May 1, 2008; August 28, 2014, effective January 1, 2015.

COMMENT:

Rule 1.509(1)(c). The rule mirrors Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 33(b)(3) and (4) in requiring that objections to interrogatories be specific and providing that any ground not raised in a timely objection is waived. The rule further allows a party to respond to an interrogatory subject to an objection without waiving that objection. In such cases, however, the responding party must clearly indicate whether any responsive information is being withheld subject to the objection.

COMMENT:

Rule 1.509(4). Parties are encouraged to use supreme court-approved pattern discovery when appropriate. A party may use one or more pattern interrogatories that are part of an approved set of pattern interrogatories. Any approved pattern interrogatory is counted as one interrogatory in determining the total number of permissible interrogatories, regardless of the number of subparts or multiple inquiries within the interrogatory. In contrast, each discrete subpart of a nonpattern interrogatory will count as a separate interrogatory. A party may combine pattern interrogatories with other interrogatories, subject to applicable limitations as to number. A party should not serve pattern interrogatories that have no application to the case.

COMMENT: The requirement to file answers or objections, absent court order, is eliminated. Notices of serving interrogatories are abolished. Rule 1.509(2) adds to the permissible scope of interrogatories the amounts claimed for items of damages approved by the court in Gordon v. Noel, 356 N.W. 2d 559 (Iowa 1984), and the addresses of trial witnesses.