Miss. R. Civ. P. 33

As amended through March 21, 2024

Rule 33 - Interrogatories to Parties

(a) Availability; Procedures for Use. Any party may serve as a matter of right upon any other party written interrogatories not to exceed thirty in number 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. Each interrogatory shall consist of a single question. Interrogatories may, without leave of court, 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 that party. Leave of court, to be granted upon a showing of necessity, shall be required to serve in excess of thirty interrogatories.

(b) Answers and Objections

(1) Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath, unless it is objected to, in which event the objecting party shall state the reasons for the objection and shall answer to the extent the interrogatory is not objectionable.

(2) The answers are to be signed by the person making them, and the objections signed by the attorney making them.

(3) The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers, and objections if any, within thirty days after the service of the interrogatories, except that a defendant may serve answers or objections within forty-five days after service of the summons and complaint upon that defendant. The court may allow a shorter or longer time.

(4) All grounds for an objection to an interrogatory shall be stated with specificity. Any ground not stated in a timely objection is waived unless the party's failure to object is excused by the court for good cause shown.

(5) The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Rule 37(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.

(c) 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 pre-trial conference or other later time.

(d) Option to Produce Business Records. Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from the business records 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 a sufficient answer to such interrogatory to specify the records from which the answer may be derived or ascertained in sufficient detail to enable the interrogating party to locate and identify them as readily as the responding party could 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. The specification provided shall include sufficient detail to permit the interrogating party to identify readily the individual documents from which the answer may be ascertained.

Miss. R. Civ. P. 33

Amended effective 4/13/2000; amended effective 10/11/2021.

Advisory Committee Historical Note

Effective April 13, 2000, Rule 33 was amended to require parties to produce all nonobjectionable information and to clearly state the ground for objection to each interrogatory. 753-754 So. 2d XVII (West Miss.Cas. 2000 ).

Advisory Committee Notes

The thirty interrogatories permitted as a matter of right are to be computed by counting each distinct question as one of the thirty, even if labeled a sub-part, subsection, threshold question, or the like. In areas well suited to non-abusive exploration by interrogatory, such as inquiries into the names and locations of witnesses, or the existence, location, and custodians of documents or physical evidence, greater leniency may be appropriate in construing several questions as one interrogatory.

Rule 33(b)(4) requires that the grounds for any objection be stated with specificity. "'General objections' applicable to each and every interrogatory.are clearly outside the bounds of this rule." See Ford Motor Co. v. Tennin, 960 So. 2d 379 (Miss. 2007). If an interrogatory is only partially objectionable, the responding party shall clearly indicate the extent to which the interrogatory is objectionable and the basis for the partial objection. The responding party must also fully respond to the extent the interrogatory is not objectionable. If, for example, an interrogatory seeking information about 30 facilities is deemed objectionable, but an interrogatory seeking information about 10 facilities would not have been objectionable, the interrogatory should be answered with respect to the 10 facilities, and the grounds for the objection to providing the information with respect to the remaining facilities should be stated specifically.

Advisory Committee Historical Note

Effective October 11, 2021, Rule 33(d) was amended to require a party who chooses to respond to an interrogatory by producing business records to specify the records from which each response may be ascertained in sufficient detail so that the requesting party may locate and identify the records as readily as the responding party could.

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