Draft interrogatories, requests for production and requests for admission from your matter

Good written discovery starts from the claims and defenses

Discovery requests are only as useful as their connection to the case. Under FRCP 26(b)(1), parties may obtain nonprivileged matter that is relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case. Proportionality weighs the importance of the issues, the amount in controversy, each side's access to the information and resources, how much the discovery matters to resolving the issues, and whether its burden or expense outweighs its likely benefit. Requests copied from an old set rather than built from the pleadings tend to be overbroad, draw boilerplate objections and end in a dispute.

A practical starting map: list each element of each claim and each affirmative defense, then ask what fact, document or admission would prove or disprove it, and who holds it. That map tells you which tool fits.

• Interrogatories for facts, identities, timelines and contentions a party must answer under oath.
• Requests for production for documents, electronically stored information and tangible things.
• Requests for admission to take undisputed facts off the table and to establish that documents are genuine.

In federal court, written discovery usually follows the Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures, and Rule 26(d)(1) generally bars discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference. The discovery glossary entry covers the vocabulary.

The federal rules in brief

Interrogatories: FRCP 33

A party may serve no more than 25 interrogatories on any other party, including all discrete subparts, unless the parties stipulate otherwise or the court orders it. Answers and objections are due within 30 days after service unless a different time is stipulated under Rule 29 or ordered. Grounds for objection must be stated with specificity, and a ground not stated in a timely objection is waived unless the court excuses it for good cause.

Requests for production: FRCP 34

Each item or category must be described with reasonable particularity, with a reasonable time, place and manner for production. A request may specify the form for producing electronically stored information. The written response is due within 30 days after service, and an objection must state whether responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection.

Requests for admission: FRCP 36

Requests may cover facts, the application of law to fact, opinions about either, and the genuineness of described documents. Each matter must be stated separately, and a copy of the document must accompany a genuineness request unless it was already furnished. A matter is admitted if no written answer or objection is served within 30 days. Rule 36 itself sets no numerical cap, but a local rule, standing order or scheduling order may.

Rule 26(g) requires an attorney of record to sign every request, response and objection, certifying after a reasonable inquiry that it is consistent with the rules, not served for an improper purpose and not unreasonable or unduly burdensome. That signature is why a draft from any tool stays a draft until you have read every line.

State courts differ. Many states set their own numerical limits, official form interrogatories, formats and deadlines. Check the state rules, the local rules and any case management order before you finalize a set.

How drafting works in Draftiro

1. Load the matter. Create a matter and upload the pleadings, key documents and any prior discovery to Case Files. Draftiro works from the readable text of each file; a file it cannot read is named as unreadable, not summarized.
2. Ask for the set you need. In the matter's chat, name the responding party, the type of request, the topics, the claim or defense each topic supports, and how many requests you want. For example: requests for production to the defendant on 2023 maintenance records and the incident report, tied to the negligence claim, ten requests.
3. Check what it relied on. When an answer draws on matter files, it lists them as numbered sources, with a page only when the passage carries one. Open them and confirm the facts behind each request.
4. Edit and finish. Drafts are editable, autosave and keep version history. Export to Word (.docx), or open the draft in Word with the Draftiro Word add-in.
5. Count, review, sign and serve. You number the set, check it against the limits that apply, and serve it.

Drafting habits that hold up: tie every request to an element or defense, define terms once, give each request a time period, avoid "any and all" requests that sweep in everything, specify the ESI format you want, and keep one fact per request for admission so a partial denial is still useful.

After the responses: deficiency and meet-and-confer letters

When answers come back incomplete, Rule 37(a)(4) treats an evasive or incomplete answer as a failure to answer. Before a motion to compel, Rule 37(a)(1) requires a certification that the movant in good faith conferred or tried to confer with the other side. A letter that goes request by request, stating what was asked, what was produced or answered, what appears missing and which objection was raised, makes that record and can narrow the dispute.

Upload your requests and the responses to the matter and ask Draftiro for a request-by-request deficiency letter with a proposed date to confer, then a follow-up letter confirming what was agreed. Check every characterization against the responses yourself. The glossary entries on meet and confer and the motion to compel cover the procedure, and the motion drafting page covers the motion itself.

Florida family-law financial discovery

For Florida family-law matters where the issue is financial disclosure, Discovery Review matches a production against your requests in a ledger and drafts the follow-up. It is a firm-enabled limited release, not self-serve and not part of any plan. See also the Florida family-law page.