Under Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may serve on another party “no more than 25 interrogatories, including all discrete subparts.” Andrew is a paralegal at a large law firm and is working with Fred, a senior partner, and Joseph, an associate, on a real estate litigation case. Fred wants to serve interrogatories on the opposing party and asks Joseph to draft them. Andrew will be responsible for proofreading and preparing the final drafts of all discovery requests, with a goal of serving them by the end of next week. Joseph prepares a draft of the interrogatories and provides them to Andrew, but Andrew notices that Joseph has prepared 28 interrogatories. From the options listed below, what is Andrew’s best approach to this situation?
Explanation
Answer: B - Proofread and prepare a final version of the interrogatories, but advise Joseph that the total number exceeds the presumptive limit. First, proofreading and preparing a final draft will probably save time for Andrew later (although this assumes that Joseph did not provide his draft at the last minute). Second, raising the presumptive limit problem with Joseph allows Joseph the opportunity to revise interrogatories that he drafted initially (he knows them best). Answer A is not the best approach because it ignores the presumptive limit, and if served, could lead to an objection by opposing counsel. Answer C is not the best approach because creating subparts will not overcome the presumptive limit. Answer D is not the best approach because it will likely create unnecessary friction in the office.
