Group V: Depositions and Discovery · Last amended March 1, 2017 · Last verified July 14, 2026
(a) Motion for an Order Compelling Disclosure or Discovery. —
(1) In General. — On notice to other parties and all affected persons, a party may move for an order compelling disclosure or discovery. The motion must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the person or party failing to make disclosure or discovery in an effort to obtain it without court action.
(2) Appropriate Court. — A motion for an order to a party must be made in the court where the action is pending. A motion for an order to a nonparty must be made in the court where the discovery is or will be taken.
(3) Specific Motions. —
(A) To Compel Disclosure. — If a party fails to make a disclosure required by Rule 26(a), any other party may move to compel disclosure and for appropriate sanctions.
(B) To Compel a Discovery Response. — A party seeking discovery may move for an order compelling an answer, designation, production, or inspection. This motion may be made if:
(i) a deponent fails to answer a question asked under Rule 30 or 31;
(ii) a corporation or other entity fails to make a designation under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a)(4);
(iii) a party fails to answer an interrogatory submitted under Rule 33; or
(iv) a party fails to produce documents or fails to respond that inspection will be permitted — or fails to permit inspection — as requested under Rule 34.
(C) Related to a Deposition. — When taking an oral deposition, the party asking a question may complete or adjourn the examination before moving for an order.
(4) Evasive or Incomplete Disclosure, Answer, or Response. — For purposes of this subdivision (a), an evasive or incomplete disclosure, answer, or response must be treated as a failure to disclose, answer, or respond.
(5) Payment of Expenses; Protective Orders. —
(A) If the Motion Is Granted (or Disclosure or Discovery Is Provided After Filing). — If the motion is granted — or if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed — the court must, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, the party or attorney advising that conduct, or both to pay the movant’s reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees. But the court must not order this payment if:
(i) the movant filed the motion before attempting in good faith to obtain the disclosure or discovery without court action;
(ii) the opposing party’s nondisclosure, response, or objection was substantially justified; or
(iii) other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(B) If the Motion Is Denied. — If the motion is denied, the court may issue any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c) and must, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require the movant, the attorney filing the motion, or both to pay the party or deponent who opposed the motion its reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney’s fees. But the court must not order this payment if the motion was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(C) If the Motion Is Granted in Part and Denied in Part. — If the motion is granted in part and denied in part, the court may issue any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c) and may, after giving an opportunity to be heard, apportion the reasonable expenses for the motion.
(b) Failure to Comply with Court Order. —
(1) Sanctions Sought in the District Where the Deposition Is Taken. — If the court where the discovery is taken orders a deponent to be sworn or to answer a question and the deponent fails to obey, the failure may be treated as contempt of court. If a deposition-related motion is transferred to the court where the action is pending, and that court orders a deponent to be sworn or to answer a question and the deponent fails to obey, the failure may be treated as contempt of either the court where the discovery is taken or the court where the action is pending.
(2) Sanctions Sought in the District Where the Action Is Pending. —
(A) For Not Obeying a Discovery Order. — If a party or a party’s officer, director, or managing agent — or a witness designated under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a)(4) — fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery, including an order under Rule 26(f), 35, or 37(a), the court where the action is pending may issue further just orders. They may include the following:
(i) directing that the matters embraced in the order or other designated facts be taken as established for purposes of the action, as the prevailing party claims;
(ii) prohibiting the disobedient party from supporting or opposing designated claims or defenses, or from introducing designated matters in evidence;
(iii) striking pleadings in whole or in part;
(iv) staying further proceedings until the order is obeyed;
(v) dismissing the action or proceeding in whole or in part;
(vi) rendering a default judgment against the disobedient party; or
(vii) treating as contempt of court the failure to obey any order except an order to submit to a physical or mental examination.
(B) For Not Producing a Person for Examination. — If a party fails to comply with an order under Rule 35(a) requiring it to produce another person for examination, the court may issue any of the orders listed in Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(i)-(vi), unless the disobedient party shows that it cannot produce the other person.
(C) Payment of Expenses. — Instead of or in addition to the orders above, the court must order the disobedient party, the attorney advising that party, or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure, unless the failure was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(c) Failure to Disclose, to Supplement an Earlier Response, or to Admit. —
(1) Failure to Disclose or Supplement. — If a party fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) or (e), the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless. In addition to or instead of this sanction, the court, on motion and after giving an opportunity to be heard:
(A) may order payment of the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure;
(B) may inform the jury of the party’s failure; and
(C) may impose other appropriate sanctions, including any of the orders listed in Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(i)-(vi).
(2) Failure to Admit. — If a party fails to admit what is requested under Rule 36 and if the requesting party later proves a document to be genuine or the matter true, the requesting party may move that the party who failed to admit pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred in making that proof. The court must so order unless:
(A) the request was held objectionable under Rule 36(a);
(B) the admission sought was of no substantial importance;
(C) the party failing to admit had a reasonable ground to believe that it might prevail on the matter; or
(D) there was other good reason for the failure to admit.
(d) Party’s Failure to Attend Its Own Deposition, Serve Answers to Interroga- tories, or Respond to a Request for Inspection. —
(1) In General. —
(A) Motion; Grounds for Sanctions. — The court where the action is pending may, on motion, order sanctions if:
(i) a party or a party’s officer, director, or managing agent — or a person designated under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a)(4) — fails, after being served with proper notice, to appear for that person’s deposition; or
(ii) a party, after being properly served with interrogatories under Rule 33 or a request for inspection under Rule 34, fails to serve its answers, objections, or written response.
(B) Certification. — A motion for sanctions for failing to answer or respond must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the party failing to act in an effort to obtain the answer or response without court action.
(2) Unacceptable Excuse for Failing to Act. — A failure described in Rule 37(d)(1)(A) is not excused on the ground that the discovery sought was objectionable, unless the party failing to act has a pending motion for a protective order under Rule 26(c).
(3) Types of Sanctions. — Sanctions may include any of the orders listed in Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(i)-(vi). Instead of or in addition to these sanctions, the court shall require the party failing to act, the attorney advising that party, or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure, unless the failure was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(e) Failure to Preserve Electronically Stored Information. — If electronically stored information that should have been preserved in the anticipation or conduct of litigation is lost because a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve it, and it cannot be restored or replaced through additional discovery, the court:
(1) upon finding prejudice to another party from loss of the information, may order measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice; or
(2) only upon finding that the party acted with the intent to deprive another party of the information’s use in the litigation may:
(A) presume that the lost information was unfavorable to the party;
(B) instruct the jury that it may or must presume the information was unfavorable to the party; or
(C) dismiss the action or enter a default judgment.
(f) Failure to Participate in Framing a Discovery Plan. — If a party or its attorney fails to participate in good faith in developing and submitting a proposed discovery plan as required by Rule 26(f), the court may, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require that party or attorney to pay to any other party the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure.
Added February 2, 2017, effective March 1, 2017.
Rule 37 is the enforcement mechanism behind every other discovery rule. When a party will not disclose what Rule 26(a) requires, will not answer a deposition question, will not designate a witness under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a)(4), will not answer an interrogatory under Rule 33, or will not produce documents or permit inspection under Rule 34, the other side can move to compel -- but only after certifying that it tried in good faith to work the problem out without asking the court to step in. An evasive or incomplete answer counts as no answer at all for these purposes. Whichever side loses the motion generally pays the winner's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, though the court will not order that if the movant filed before making a real effort to resolve things, if the other side's position was substantially justified, or if some other circumstance makes an expense award unjust; the same logic runs in reverse if the motion is denied, and the court can split the difference when a motion is granted in part and denied in part.
Once a court orders a party to provide discovery and that party still refuses, the available sanctions escalate. A court can hold a disobedient deponent in contempt, and for a party who defies a discovery order more broadly, the court can deem disputed facts established against that party, block it from supporting or opposing designated claims or defenses, strike pleadings, stay the case, dismiss it, or enter a default judgment -- with contempt reserved as the sanction for every kind of violation except refusing to submit to a physical or mental examination under Rule 35. Separate provisions cover a party who never shows up for its own deposition, or never answers interrogatories or a production request in the first place, without needing a prior order to violate; the same menu of sanctions is available there too, and expenses are mandatory unless the failure was substantially justified. A party cannot excuse a no-show by arguing the discovery sought was objectionable unless it already had a pending motion for a protective order when the deadline passed.
The rule also reaches conduct that happens outside the courtroom: a party who fails to admit something under Rule 36 that later gets proven true or genuine can be ordered to pay the cost of that proof, unless the request was objectionable, of no real importance, or the party had a reasonable basis to think it would prevail, or some other good reason excuses the refusal. Rule 37(e) addresses lost electronically stored information -- if a party fails to take reasonable steps to preserve information it should have preserved, and the loss cannot be fixed through more discovery, the court can order measures no greater than necessary to cure any prejudice, and if the loss was intentional, the court can go further and presume the lost information was unfavorable, instruct the jury accordingly, or dismiss the case or enter default judgment. Finally, a party or lawyer who will not participate in good faith in putting together a discovery plan under Rule 26(f) can be ordered to cover the expenses that failure caused.