§ 2028.050.Objection to question calling for privileged information or protected

Objections based on privilege or protected work product get their own track, separate from ordinary form objections, because the stakes are different: answering first and objecting later can't undo a disclosure already made. A party who believes a question calls for privileged information or material protected under the Discovery Act's work-product chapter has to serve a specific objection on that ground within 15 days after the question is served, or lose the right to object at all.

Once that objection is served, the burden shifts to the party who asked the question. That party can move the court for an order overruling the objection, again backed by a meet-and-confer declaration, but unlike a form objection, the deposition officer can't propound the question at all while a privilege or work-product objection is pending, not even conditionally. The question stays off the table unless and until the court overrules the objection. And just as with form objections, the court must impose a monetary sanction on the losing side of that motion, whether it's the party who unsuccessfully sought to overrule the objection or the one who unsuccessfully opposed the motion, unless the loser acted with substantial justification or a sanction would be unjust.