4901-1-19. Interrogatories and response time

(A) Any party may serve upon any other party written interrogatories, to be answered by the party served. If the party served is a corporation, partnership, association, government agency, or municipal corporation, it shall designate one or more of its officers, agents, or employees to answer the interrogatories, who shall furnish such information as is available to the party. Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully, in writing and under oath, unless it is objected to, in which case the reason for the objection shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The answers shall be signed by the person making them, and the objections shall be signed by the attorney or other person making them. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers or objections upon the party submitting the interrogatories and all other parties within twenty days after the service thereof, or within such shorter or longer time as the commission, the legal director, the deputy legal director, or an attorney examiner may allow. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under rule 4901-1-23 of the Administrative Code with respect to any objection or other failure to answer an interrogatory.

(B) Subject to the scope of discovery set forth in rule 4901-1-16 of the Administrative Code, interrogatories may elicit facts, data, or other information known or readily available to the party upon whom the interrogatories are served. An interrogatory which is otherwise proper is not objectionable merely because it calls for an opinion, contention, or legal conclusion, but the commission, the legal director, the deputy legal director, or the attorney examiner may direct that such interrogatory need not be answered until certain designated discovery has been completed, or until some other designated time. The answers to interrogatories may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence, but such answers are not conclusive and may be rebutted or explained by other evidence.

(C) Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from public documents on file in this state, or from documents which the party served with the interrogatory has furnished to the party submitting the interrogatory within the preceding twelve months, it is a sufficient answer to such interrogatory to specify the title of the document, the location of the document or the circumstances under which it was furnished to the party submitting the interrogatory, and the page or pages from which the answer may be derived or ascertained.

(D) 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 records, and the burden of deriving the answer is substantially the same for the party submitting 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 and to afford the party submitting the interrogatory a reasonable opportunity to examine, audit, or inspect such records.

R.C. 119.032 review dates: 03/26/2014 and 03/26/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4901.13
Rule Amplifies: 4901.13 , 4901.18, 4903.082
Prior Effective Dates: 3/1/81, 12/25/87, 4/20/01, 5/07/07

Prior History: (Effective: 05/07/2007
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 02/20/2007 and 09/30/2010
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4901.13
Rule Amplifies: 4901.13, 4901.18, 4903.082
Prior Effective Dates: 3/1/81, 12/25/87, 4/20/01 )