Form No. 2 – General Definitions

May 13, 2021 | Civil Prodcedure, Maryland

In these interrogatories, the following definitions apply:

(a) Document includes electronically stored information and any writing, drawing, graph, chart, photograph, sound recording, image, and other data or data compilation stored in any medium from which information can be obtained, translated, if necessary, through detection devices into reasonably usable form. (Standard General Definition (a).)

(b) Identify, identity, or identification, (1) when used in reference to a natural person, means that person’s full name, last known address, home and business telephone numbers, and present occupation or business affiliation; (2) when used in reference to a person other than a natural person, means that person’s full name, a description of the nature of the person (that is, whether it is a corporation, partnership, etc. under the definition of person below), and the person’s last known address, telephone number, and principal place of business; (3) when used in reference to any person after the person has been properly identified previously means the person’s name; and (4) when used in reference to a document, requires you to state the date, the author (or, if different, the signer or signers), the addressee, the identity of the present custodian of the document, and the type of document (e.g., letter, memorandum, telegram, or chart) or to attach an accurate copy of the document to your answer, appropriately labeled to correspond to the interrogatory. (Standard General Definition (b).)

(c) Person includes an individual, general or limited partnership, joint stock company, unincorporated association or society, municipal or other corporation, incorporated association, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, the State, an agency or political subdivision of the State, a court, and any other governmental entity. (Standard General Definition (c).)

Adopted Jan. 18, 1996, eff. July 1, 1996. Amended June 10, 1997, eff. July 1, 1997; March 5, 2001, eff. July 1, 2001; Sept. 10, 2009, eff. Oct. 1, 2009.

HISTORICAL NOTES

1999 Orders

The December 16, 1999, order, in interrogatory 12, substituted “Rule 9-203 f. for “Rule S72.

2001 Orders

The March 5, 2001, order, in definition (b), added a requirement that the present custodian of a document be identified.

2009 Orders

The September 10, 2009, order, amended the definition of document, which previously read:

“(a) Document includes a writing, drawing, graph, chart, photograph, recording, and other data compilation from which information can be obtained, translated, if necessary, through detection devices into reasonably usable form. (Standard General Definition (a).)

Committee note: These definitions are designed to be used in virtually all cases. In order to flag the use of a defined term in the actual interrogatories and alert the responding party to the need to consult the definition, defined terms have been printed in bold type.