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Rule 34 – Production of documents and things and entry upon land for inspection and other purposes

May 15, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Civil Procedure Superior Court, Delaware

(a) Scope. Any party may serve on any other party a request (1) to produce and permit the party making the request, or someone acting on the requestor’s behalf, to inspect and copy, any designated documents (including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, phono-records, and other data compilations from which information can be obtained, translated, if necessary, by the respondent through detection devices into reasonably usable form) , or to inspect and copy, test, or sample any tangible things which constitute or contain matters within the scope of Rule 26(b) and which are in the possession, custody or control of the party upon whom the request is served; or (2) to permit entry upon designated land or other property in the possession or control of the party upon whom the request is served for the purposes of inspection and measuring, surveying, photographing, testing, or sampling the property or any designated object or operation thereon, within the scope of Rule 26(b).
(b) Procedure. – The request 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. The request shall set forth the items to be inspected either by individual item or by category, and describe each item and category with reasonable particularity. The request shall specify a reasonable time, place, and manner of making the inspection and performing the related acts.

The party upon whom the request is served shall serve a written response within 30 days after the service of the request, except that a defendant may serve a response within 45 days after service of the summons and complaint upon that defendant. The Court may allow a shorter or longer time. The response shall state, with respect to each item or category, that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested, unless the request is objected to, in which event the reasons for objection shall be stated with specificity. An objection must state whether the responding party is withholding or intends to withhold any responsive materials on the basis of that objection, and the responding party is under a duty to supplement its response to the extent it subsequently determines that it will withhold any responsive material on the basis of an objection. If objection is made to part of an item or category, the part shall be specified and inspection permitted of the remaining parts. The party submitting the request may move for an order under Rule 37(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to respond to the request or any part thereof, or any failure to permit inspection as requested.

A party who produces documents for inspection shall produce them as they are kept in the usual course of business or shall organize and label them to correspond with the categories in the request.

Unless the document request expressly requires that the documents must be produced for inspection, the responding party may state that it will produce copies of documents or of electronically stored information instead of permitting inspection, in which case the production must then be completed no later than the time for inspection specified in the request, another reasonable time specified in the response, or as otherwise agreed between the requesting and responding parties.

(c) Persons not parties. A person not a party to the action may be compelled to produce documents and things or to submit to an inspection as provided by Rule 45.
(d) Request for production of documents or electronically stored information. – Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court., these procedures apply to producing documents or electronically stored information: A party may state in its request the form for producing documents or electronically stored information. If a party so states, the responding party must produce electronically stored information in the form requested. If a request does not specify a form for producing documents or electronically stored information, or if the form specified is unreasonable, a party must produce it in a form or forms in which it is ordinarily maintained or in which it is reasonably usable. Absent a showing of good cause, a party need not produce the same documents or electronically stored information in more than one form.

Del. R. Civ. P. Super. Ct. 34

Amended June 27, 2019, effective August 1, 2019.