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Wash. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 33

Interrogatories to Parties

activein force · 2015-12-08 – presentact-effective-date

(a) Availability; Procedures for Use. Any party may serve upon any other party written

interrogatories to be answered by the party served or, if the party served is a public or private

corporation or a partnership or association or governmental agency, by any officer or agent, who

shall furnish such information as is available to the party. Interrogatories may, without leave of

court, be served upon the plaintiff after the summons and a copy of the complaint are served upon

the defendant, or the complaint is filed, whichever shall first occur, and upon any other party with

or after service of the summons and complaint upon that party.

Interrogatories shall be so arranged that after each separate question there shall appear a

blank space reasonably calculated to enable the answering party to place the written response. In

the event the responding party either chooses to place the response on a separate page or pages or

must do so in order to complete the response, the responding party shall clearly denote the number

of the question to which the response relates, including the subpart thereof if applicable. Each

interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath, unless it is objected to,

in which event the reasons for objection shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The answers are to be

signed by the person making them, and the objections signed by the attorney making them. The

party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers, and

objections if any, within 30 days after the service of the interrogatories, except that a defendant

may serve answers or objections within 40 days after service of the summons and complaint upon

that defendant. The parties may stipulate or any party may move for an order under rule 37(a) with

respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.

(b) Scope; Use at Trial. Interrogatories may relate to any matters which can be inquired

into under rule 26(b), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the Rules of

Evidence.

An interrogatory otherwise proper is not necessarily objectionable merely because an answer

to the interrogatory involves an opinion or contention that relates to fact or the application of law

to fact, but the court may order that such an interrogatory need not be answered until after

designated discovery has been completed or until a pretrial conference or other later time.

An interrogatory otherwise proper is not objectionable merely because the propounding

party may have other access to the requested information or has the burden of proof on the subject

matter of the interrogatory at trial.

(c) Option To Produce Business Records. Where the answer to an interrogatory may be

derived or ascertained from the business records, including electronically stored information, of

the party upon whom the interrogatory has been served or from an examination, audit or

inspection of such business records, or from a compilation, abstract or summary based thereon,

and the burden of deriving or ascertaining the answer is substantially the same for the party

serving the interrogatory as for the party served, it is sufficient answer to such interrogatory to

specify the records from which the answer may be derived or ascertained and to afford to the party

serving the interrogatory reasonable opportunity to examine, audit or inspect such records and to

make copies, compilations, abstracts or summaries. A specification shall be in sufficient detail to

permit the interrogating party to locate and to identify, as readily as can the party served, the

records from which the answer may be ascertained.

History

[Adopted effective July 1, 1967; Amended effective July 1, 1972; September 1, 1985; September 1, 1989; October 29, 1993; December 8, 2015.]

Provenance

Source
www.courts.wa.gov
Retrieved
2026-09-16
Edition
2026-09-16
Content hash
371559a6a34b40912636b7a9d7945c372859e123aff26540ead165550f42fdf0
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