Rule 33 — Interrogatories to Parties

Fed. R. Civ. P. 33

• Source: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Rule: 33
• TITLE V: DISCLOSURES AND DISCOVERY
• Citation: Fed. R. Civ. P. 33

Text

(a) INGENERAL.
(1) Number. Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the
court, a party may serve on any other party no more than 25
written interrogatories, including all discrete subparts. Leave
to serve additional interrogatories may be granted to the ex-
tent consistent with Rule 26(b)(1) and (2).
(2) Scope. An interrogatory may relate to any matter that
may be inquired into under Rule 26(b). An interrogatory is not
objectionable merely because it asks for an opinion or conten-
tion that relates to fact or the application of law to fact, but
the court may order that the interrogatory need not be an-
swered until designated discovery is complete, or until a pre-
trial conference or some other time.
(b) ANSWERSANDOBJECTIONS.
(1) Responding Party. The interrogatories must be answered:
(A) by the party to whom they are directed; or
(B) if that party is a public or private corporation, a
partnership, an association, or a governmental agency, by
any officer or agent, who must furnish the information
available to the party.
(2) Time to Respond. The responding party must serve its an-
swers and any objections within 30 days after being served
with the interrogatories. A shorter or longer time may be stip-
ulated to under Rule 29 or be ordered by the court.
(3) Answering Each Interrogatory. Each interrogatory must,
to the extent it is not objected to, be answered separately and
fully in writing under oath.
(4) Objections. 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, ex-
cuses the failure.
(5) Signature. The person who makes the answers must sign
them, and the attorney who objects must sign any objections.
(c) USE. An answer to an interrogatory may be used to the ex-
tent allowed by the Federal Rules of Evidence.
(d) OPTION TO PRODUCE BUSINESS RECORDS. If the answer to an
interrogatory may be determined by examining, auditing, compil-
ing, abstracting, or summarizing a party’s business records (in-
cluding electronically stored information), and if the burden of de-
riving or ascertaining the answer will be substantially the same
for either party, the responding party may answer by:
(1) specifying the records that must be reviewed, in suffi-
cient detail to enable the interrogating party to locate and
identify them as readily as the responding party could; and
(2) giving the interrogating party a reasonable opportunity
to examine and audit the records and to make copies, compila-
tions, abstracts, or summaries.

Advisory Committee Notes

(As amended Dec. 27, 1946, eff. Mar. 19, 1948; Mar. 30, 1970, eff. July 1, 1970; Apr. 29, 1980, eff. Aug. 1, 1980; Apr. 22, 1993, eff. Dec. 1, 1993; Apr. 12, 2006, eff. Dec. 1, 2006; Apr. 30, 2007, eff. Dec. 1, 2007; Apr. 29, 2015, eff. Dec. 1, 2015.)