Rule 33.Interrogatories to Parties

Rule 33(a)(1) limits a party to serving no more than 40 written interrogatories on any other party, counting every discrete subpart toward that total, unless the parties stipulate to more or the court grants leave consistent with Rule 26(b)'s proportionality limits. That ceiling is higher than the federal default, reflecting the fact that D.C. Superior Court does not require the automatic initial disclosures that reduce federal litigants' need for interrogatories. The scope of a proper interrogatory reaches anything discoverable under Rule 26(b), and an interrogatory is not objectionable just because it calls for an opinion or a contention involving fact or the application of law to fact — though the court can order that such a question need not be answered until later in the case. A represented party serving interrogatories must, on request, promptly send an electronic version the other side can copy from directly, and a self-represented party can opt into that same electronic exchange by filing a completed Civil Action Form 115 with an email address and a confirmation of the capacity to file and receive documents electronically.

The party to whom interrogatories are directed must answer them personally, or, if that party is a corporation, partnership, association, or government agency, through an officer or agent who can supply the available information. Answers and objections are due within 30 days of service, except that a defendant gets 45 days after being served with the summons and complaint, and the District of Columbia, its officers or agencies, or the United States and its officers or agencies get 75 days — all subject to a shorter or longer period by stipulation under Rule 29 or court order. Rule 33(b)(3) requires each interrogatory that is not objected to be answered separately and fully under oath, and it adds a distinctly local requirement: the answer or objection must quote the interrogatory itself in full immediately before responding to it, rather than answering by number alone. Objections must state their grounds with specificity, and any ground left out of a timely objection is waived unless the court excuses that omission for good cause. The person answering must sign the answers, and the attorney raising an objection must sign that objection.

An interrogatory answer can be used at a hearing or trial to the extent the law of evidence allows. When the answer turns on examining a party's business records — including electronically stored information — and the burden of digging out the answer would fall equally on either side, Rule 33(d) lets the responding party point to those records instead of writing out the answer, as long as it specifies the records precisely enough for the interrogating party to find them just as readily and gives that party a fair chance to examine, copy, and summarize them. Interrogatories, answers, and objections are not filed with the court except as Rule 5(d) provides.