Local Rule 26.3: Discovery Responses and Motions

26.3 Discovery Responses and Motions

(a) Responses to Discovery.

(1) Answers and objections to interrogatories pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 33 and responses and objections to requests for admissions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 36 must identify and quote each interrogatory or request for admission in full immediately preceding the statement of any answer or objection.

(2) Each objection must be followed by a statement of reasons. When an objection is made to part of an interrogatory, the remainder of the interrogatory must be answered at the time the objection is made, or within the period of any extension of time to answer, whichever is later.

(3) Responses to requests made pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a) must set forth each request in full before each response or objection. Each objection must be followed by a statement of reasons.

(4) Failure to object to interrogatories or requests for the production of documents or things under Fed. R. Civ. P. 33 and 34, within the time fixed by the rules, or within the time to which the parties have agreed, constitutes a waiver of any objection.

(5) The parties, and when appropriate a non-party witness, may stipulate to alter any form or procedure for discovery or any time limit for discovery that does not extend the dates set for the close of discovery, the motions deadline, lodging the pretrial order, pretrial conferences, or trial of the case. The court will not enforce oral stipulations.

(b) Demand for Prior Discovery. Whenever a party makes a written demand for discovery that took place prior to the time the party became a party to the action, each party who has previously provided responses to interrogatories or requests for admission or requests for production must furnish to the demanding party, at the demanding party's expense, a copy of the documents containing the discovery responses in question. Alternatively, each responding party must furnish to the demanding party a list identifying each responsive discovery document by title and, upon further demand and at the demanding party's expense, a copy of any listed discovery response specified in the demand. In the case of requests for production of things, the responding party must make available for inspection by the demanding party all things previously produced. Each party who has taken a deposition must advise the demanding party of the availability of a copy of the transcript at the latter's expense by providing the name, address and telephone number of the certified court reporter who prepared the deposition transcript.

(c) Discovery Motions.

(1) The court will deny any discovery motion unless the parties have conferred concerning all disputed issues before the motion is filed. The mere sending of a written, electronic, or voicemail communication does not satisfy this requirement. Rather, this requirement can be satisfied only through direct dialogue and discussion in a face-to-face meeting (whether in person or by electronic means), in a telephone conversation, or in detailed, comprehensive correspondence.

(2) All motions to compel or limit discovery must:

(A) set forth the basis for the motion;

(B) certify that the parties complied with subsection (c)(1) or a description of the moving party's attempts to comply; and

(C) attach, as an exhibit:

(i) the full text of the discovery sought; and

(ii) the full text of the response.

(d) Original Discovery. Originals of responses to requests for admission or production and answers to interrogatories must be served upon the party who made the request or propounded the interrogatories, and that party must make such originals available for use by any other party at the time of any pretrial hearing or at trial. Likewise, the deposing party must make the original transcript of a deposition available for use by any party at the time of any pretrial hearing and at trial, or for filing with the court if so ordered.