Sending Interrogatories: A Step-by-Step Procedure

Sending Interrogatories: A Step-by-Step Procedure

The process of building a personal injury lawsuit involves several steps. There is a lot to do before your case goes to trial. The case can be built up before it goes to trial by both parties. Evidence can be gathered in many ways. An interrogatory is one way to gather evidence in a California personal injury case. We at Deldar Legal Injury Attorneys can work with you to make sure that your interrogatories are prepared in a way that is beneficial to your case. Read this article to find out more about interrogatories.

What Does an Interrogatory Mean in a Personal Injury Case?

In a case involving a personal injury, interrogatories are written questions sent to the other party. A party who receives a question has 30 days to reply back to the other party. It is mandatory for the party answering interrogatories to answer them under oath. An interrogatory is a way of narrowing the issue of disagreement, gathering information, and building evidence.

How to Ask Common Interrogatories in a Personal Injury Case?

Interrogatories are commonly used to lawfully narrow contested issues and prepare for depositions. For example, you could use interrogatories to get a consensus on basic details like the accident’s location or the color of the vehicles involved. Interrogatories can be used to identify witnesses, such as the identities of people in a car. Interrogatories can be used to ask the following questions:

  • You should list the company, policy number, your address, and your phone number in your insurance information
  • At the time of the accident, describe the color of the light (red, green, etc.).
  • Include your intended destination at the time of the accident as well as your activities for that day
  • Have you had your vehicle repaired since the accident?
  • List the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone you have spoken to about the accident
  • Provide a list of all criminal convictions and arrests that you have experienced
  • You should list and describe all medications that you were taking during the accident
  • Explain any suspensions or expirations of your driver’s license

These are just a few of the questions you might ask in a personal injury case. Your personal injury attorney can assist you in deciding what questions to ask in your case.

Is there a Limit to the Number of Interrogatories You can Send in a Personal Injury Case?

A personal injury case allows you to send up to 40 interrogatories. However, you will need the court’s permission to send more. Furthermore, if the other party agrees, you can request more interrogatories.

When am I Allowed to Send Interrogatories in my Case?

After the joint case conference report, you can start interrogatories on your case. The law allows you to start interrogatories ten days after a separate conference report if there is no joint case conference report. The court can order a different time frame if it believes that a different time is more appropriate.

Who has the Right to Send Interrogatories?

Interrogatories can be sent by either party in a personal injury case. Plaintiffs can send them to defendants. However, defendants can also send them to you. Both sides of a case involving personal injury are entitled to ask and answer interrogatories.

Is there a Time Limit for Responding to Interrogatories in a Personal Injury Case?

Interrogatories must be replied to within 30 days of receipt. Your response or objection must be provided within that time frame. Depending on your reason for needing more time, you can agree on a different time frame with the other party, or you can ask the court to adjust the time frame.

What Is the Process for Replying?

You must answer interrogatories by stating each question and then directly answering the one that follows. Your answers must be signed. You are not allowed to send the answers directly to the court. The answers should be sent directly to the other party.

How do I Respond if I Object to Some of Them?

In some cases, you are not required to respond to an interrogatory inquiry. The question could, for example, be utterly unrelated to the case. The inquiry may be overly burdensome to answer because it is covered by a privilege, or it may have been posed solely to harass you.

If you think you have a reasonable response, you should ask the question first, then respond with your objection. Just saying “objection” isn’t enough. Rather, you must state the particular basis for your opposition. If the opposing side objects, they might ask the court to order you to answer the question. A skilled attorney can assist you in avoiding harassment and improper discovery.

Interrogatories Answers at Trial: Are they Admissible?

As long as the answers to questions are admissible under the rules of evidence, the answers are admissible to evidence. In most cases, this means that an interrogatory response provided by another party may be admissible in some way unless it contains hearsay or is otherwise excluded by some other rule or clause. Deldar Legal Injury Attorneys can assist you in making effective use of interrogatories in court.

 

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Posted in: Personal Injury

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