Rule 90.08.Court Order to Answer Interrogatories.

Rule 90.07 sets deadlines and content requirements for a garnishee’s interrogatory answers, and Rule 90.08 gives those requirements teeth. If a garnishee fails to answer, or files answers that do not satisfy what Rule 90.07 demands, the court can, on motion, order the garnishee to answer, or to answer properly.

A garnishee who still ignores that order faces real consequences. On motion of the garnishor or the court itself, the garnishee can be found in default, and the garnishor is then allowed to take a default judgment against the garnishee directly — turning the garnishee’s noncompliance into a personal judgment liability instead of leaving the garnishor stuck without recourse.

The rule also protects the garnishor’s ability to scrutinize answers that only show up after a court order. When a garnishee files interrogatory answers after having been ordered to do so, the garnishor still gets to file exceptions to those answers, using the same procedure Rule 90.07(c) lays out for exceptions filed in the ordinary course. Late compliance does not shortcut the garnishor’s chance to contest what the garnishee ultimately says.