The Indiana motion to compel: fees run both ways, and no certification is required

Indiana's Trial Rule 37 does not condition the motion on a prior attempt to resolve the dispute — there is no certification requirement.

But the expense provision is mandatory in both directions, so the absence of a required conference does not make a marginal motion cheap. It simply means the record you build is voluntary rather than mandated.

What can be compelled

Ind. Trial Rule 37(A) carries the familiar grounds — a deponent who fails to answer a question, a corporation that fails to make a designation, a party that fails to answer an interrogatory, and a party that fails to respond that inspection will be permitted or fails to permit it.

It also carries the standard evasive-answer provision: an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer.

When taking a deposition on oral examination, the proponent of the question may complete or adjourn the examination before applying for an order.

Where to file

An order against a deponent who is not a party:

shall be made to the court in the county where the deposition is being taken.

Mandatory for non-parties. A motion against a party goes to the court where the action is pending, or — for deposition matters — to the county where the deposition is being taken.

Rule 37(B)(1) carries the matching contempt provision: a deponent who fails to be sworn or answer "after being directed to do so by the court in the county in which the deposition is being taken" may be held in contempt of that court.

Fees, both ways, both mandatory

Indiana is symmetric: the award is mandatory when the motion is granted and mandatory when it is denied, subject in each case to substantial justification or other circumstances making an award unjust, and reaching the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, the attorney advising that conduct, or both.

Because no conference is required, the substantial-justification question turns on the correspondence. Write the deficiency letter — identifying the specific item and giving a date to cure — even though nothing obliges you to.

Once an order is disobeyed

Rule 37(B)(2) supplies the sanctions — deemed-established facts, preclusion, striking pleadings, staying proceedings, dismissal, default judgment and contempt.

Rule 37(C) carries the expenses provision for a wrongful failure to admit, and Rule 37(D) allows sanctions where a party fails to attend their own deposition, serve answers to interrogatories, or respond to a request for inspection.

How this connects to the rest of an Indiana case

Two Indiana features make discovery disputes matter more than usual.

Summary judgment runs on designation. Under Trial Rule 56 the court decides on the material the parties designate to it, and a judgment cannot be reversed on appeal for a factual dispute unless the fact and the evidence were specifically designated below. So discovery you fail to obtain is discovery you cannot designate. See Indiana summary judgment.

The response deadline cannot be extended late. Rule 56(I) permits an extension only "upon motion made within the applicable time limit," which makes a timely motion to compel more valuable than a late one.

Before you file

1. Confirm proper service and that the response period has run — see Indiana discovery deadlines.
2. Write the deficiency letter, even though no certification is required.
3. File in the right court — a non-party deponent goes to the deposition county.
4. Quote the evasive-answer provision where the response was thin rather than absent.
5. Consider Rule 37(D) where nothing at all was served.

How Indiana compares

A short checklist

1. Send the deficiency letter first. It is what substantial justification will be judged on.
2. File a non-party motion in the deposition county.
3. Quote the evasive-answer provision.
4. Complete or adjourn the deposition before applying.
5. Expect a mandatory award either way, so file only what you can defend.
6. Move early. Indiana's summary judgment response period cannot be extended after it expires.
7. Use Rule 37(D) where nothing was served at all.

Where these rules live

• Ind. Trial Rule 26 — General provisions governing discovery
• Ind. Trial Rule 33 — Interrogatories to parties
• Ind. Trial Rule 34 — Production of documents and things
• Ind. Trial Rule 36 — Requests for admission
• Ind. Trial Rule 37 — Failure to make or cooperate in discovery: Sanctions

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and what makes an opposition substantially justified is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.