Discovery Documents and interrogatories

Well I think they have to be filed with the court to hold any weight. If they just sent you a bunch of questions outside the court system I would respond with the suggestion to roll the papers up and smoke em.

You had best check with your state rule of civil procedure..that will answer your question definitively.

If you got some, check with your court to see if they have filed the discovery. Don't forget to file your own discovery! basically you have to file the discovery with the court and then send a copy of that to the lawyer.

Quite honestly, I have searched and searched for information about my civil procedure, and found a few items which don't seem pertinent to what I need. And I have a real hard time deciphering legal terminology. I really don't see how these so called discovery documents I received were filed in court, anything I have ever received has been stamped in red ink by my local court, and signed by the clerk. There is nothing on these papers to indicate it was filed in court. It appears to be a template they have which they filled in the names, stuck it in the mail, and sent it to me. :? I am quite baffled as to what to do, other than call the clerk Monday and ask if these discovery documents were filed.

Has a law suit been filed? Sometimes something like what you are describing is a trick to get information from you. If suit hasn't been filed, disregard whatever you recieved. If there is a law suit, then copies of everything introduced in the suit must be sent to the court as well as everyone who is a party to the suit.

Law Student
Has a law suit been filed? Sometimes something like what you are describing is a trick to get information from you. If suit hasn't been filed, disregard whatever you recieved. If there is a law suit, then copies of everything introduced in the suit must be sent to the court as well as everyone who is a party to the suit.

Yes, I am in the midst of a law suit with them. In fact, I just responded to the complaint, sent one to the court, one to the CA, and one to the Attorney representing the CA. No court date has been set yet. In my response to the complaint, I asked the court to guide me through discovery because I still have not received any validation of this debt. So, I was hoping to request a validation during discovery.

It depends on the state. Typically, discovery documents are not filed with the court. You should not take any chances and assume the other attorney made a mistake. You should respond as soon as possible in writing to the sending attorney.

I would suggest checking your county/state rules for civil procedure to make sure that copies do have to be sent to the court. I would not suggest following the guest's advice by blindly giving information to them that they may not have if it is not a discovery motion approved by the court.

I tried calling the court house today, I couldn't get a real person on the phone, just a recording. It looks like I am going to have to take more time off to go to the court house and do some checking. These documents were sent to me just after I received a summons of complaint from Unifund. I still can not locate my civil procedures, I have searched and searched, it's making me nuts! lol! All I need to know is, if these documents were sent to me legally, if they weren't, then I am going to motion for a dismissal, I think.

I think I found something, I think. Here are the civil procedures for Ohio, could someone help me interpret these? I am at a loss when it comes to legal terminology. :?

RULE 26. General Provisions Governing Discovery (A) Policy; discovery methods. It is the policy of these rules (1) to preserve the right of attorneys to prepare cases for trial with that degree of privacy necessary to encourage them to prepare their cases thoroughly and to investigate not only the favorable but the unfavorable aspects of such cases and (2) to prevent an attorney from taking undue advantage of his adversary's industry or efforts. Parties may obtain discovery by one or more of the following methods: deposition upon oral examination or written questions; written interrogatories; production of documents or things or permission to enter upon land or other property, for inspection and other purposes; physical and mental examinations; and requests for admission. Unless the court orders otherwise, the frequency of use of these methods is not limited. (B) Scope of discovery. Unless otherwise ordered by the court in accordance with these rules, the scope of discovery is as follows: (1) In General. Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action, whether it relates to the claim or defense of the party seeking discovery or to the claim or defense of any other party, including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition and location of any books, documents, or other tangible things and the identity and location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be inadmissible at the trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. (2) Insurance agreements. A party may obtain discovery of the existence and contents of any insurance agreement under which any person carrying on an insurance business may be liable to satisfy part or all of a judgment which may be entered in the action or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the judgment. Information concerning the insurance agreement is not by reason of disclosure subject to comment or admissible in evidence at trial. (3) Trial preparation: materials. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (B)(4) of this rule, a party may obtain discovery of documents and tangible things prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or by or for that other party's representative (including his attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent) only upon a showing of good cause therefor. A statement concerning the action or its subject matter previously given by the party seeking the statement may be obtained without showing good cause. A statement of a party is (a) a written statement signed or otherwise adopted or approved by the party, or (b) a stenographic, mechanical, electrical, or other recording, or a transcription thereof, which is a substantially verbatim recital of an oral statement which was made by the party and contemporaneously recorded.

Also this, I have no clue what I am searching for. lol

(D) Sequence and timing of discovery. Unless the court upon motion, for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interests of justice, orders otherwise, methods of discovery may be used in any sequence and the fact that a party is conducting discovery, whether by deposition or otherwise, shall not operate to delay any other party's discovery. (E) Supplementation of responses. A party who has responded to a request for discovery with a response that was complete when made is under no duty to supplement his response to include information thereafter acquired, except as follows: (1) A party is under a duty seasonably to supplement his response with respect to any question directly addressed to (a) the identity and location of persons having knowledge of discoverable matters, and (b) the identity of each person expected to be called as an expert witness at trial and the subject matter on which he is expected to testify. (2) A party who knows or later learns that his response is incorrect is under a duty seasonably to correct the response.

Without the leave of court? What does this mean?

RULE 33. Interrogatories to Parties (A) Availability; procedures for use. Any party, without leave of court, may serve upon any other party up to forty written interrogatories to be answered by the party served. A party serving interrogatories shall provide the party served with both a printed and an electronic copy of the interrogatories. The electronic copy shall be provided on computer disk, by electronic mail, or by other means agreed to by the parties. A party who is unable to provide an electronic copy of the interrogatories may seek leave of court to be relieved of this requirement. A party shall not propound more than forty interrogatories to any other party without leave of court. Upon motion, and for good cause shown, the court may extend the number of interrogatories that a party may serve upon another party. For purposes of this rule, any subpart propounded under an interrogatory shall be considered a separate interrogatory. If the party served is a public or private corporation or a partnership or association, the organization shall choose one or more of its proper employees, officers, or agents to answer the interrogatories, and the employee, officer, or agent shall furnish information as is known or available to the organization. Interrogatories, without leave of court, may be served upon the plaintiff after commencement of the action and upon any other party with or after service of the summons and complaint upon the party. 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 party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall quote each interrogatory immediately preceding the corresponding answer or objection. When the number of interrogatories exceeds forty without leave of court, the party upon whom the interrogatories have been served need only answer or object to the first forty interrogatories. 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 within a period designated by the party submitting the interrogatories, not less than twenty-eight days after the service of the interrogatories or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Civ. R. 37 with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory. (B) Scope and use at trial. Interrogatories may relate to any matters that can be inquired into under Civ. R. 26(B), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence. The party calling for such examination shall not thereby be concluded but may rebut it by evidence.

That sounds like you just have to send the documents, but that they can ask up to 40 questions only. It also states that once gotten you have 28 days to respond. Also seems you can object to questions, though you have to provide why you object, but that could be useful in and of itself.

Is there anything in there that suggests it has to be filed as a motion, or does this mean the plaintiff can just send the discovery documents USPS, before the court date? Pre-trial? Because if that's true, then I can send them discovery documents, such as validation, without filing a motion?

I finally got in touch with the clerk of courts, the discovery documents were filed through the court. Now it's my turn to request validation. Sheesh, I wish I could afford an Attorney. Oh well, I have to try to figure this out alone, I have no other choice. Thanks for all the advice so far.

Don't worry! You have the best backup and support team here! Be sure toi file your own discovery and ask them for everything you can think of (up to 40 questions. Remember also to use:

Without sufficient knowledge to agree or disagree (on questions that they should be the ones answering)

Better yet, object to the questions with the reason being you have never seen any documentation to support those questions.

Some of these questions seem redundant, stating my full name (which is written throughout this document over and over), address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, and name and address of my current employer? I am not comfortable giving out my social security number, and name and address of my employer to these people, I don't even know if they have a legal right to sue me yet, there is no proof so far that they even own this debt. How should I respond to this? Am I required to give out all this personal info at this point and time?

Put in a motion to dismiss to the clerk of courts. They must, as a matter of law, attach a copy of the debt owed to the complaint or else it can be dismissed. Frankly, I'm quite surprised that no one has pointed this out to you. Good luck!

[samebox:a27217709b="paulmergel"]this is over a year old and shazzers had it dismissed,but hey good luck to you too.[/samebox:a27217709b]