Rule 33. Interrogatories to Parties

(A) Availability; procedures for use Any party, without leave of court, may serve upon any other party up to forty written interrogatories to be answered by the party served. Whenever feasible, the party serving the interrogatories shall serve them pursuant to Civ.R. 5(B)(2)(f) or (B)(3) on a shareable medium and in an editable format. If the party being served is unrepresented by counsel, the serving party also shall provide a paper copy of the interrogatories to the unrepresented party. A party who is unable to serve the interrogatories electronically may serve them by other means permitted under Civ.R. 5(B)(2). A party shall not propound more than forty interrogatories to any other party without leave of court. Upon motion, and for good cause shown, the court may reduce or extend the number of interrogatories that a party may serve upon another party. For purposes of this rule, any subpart propounded under an interrogatory shall be considered a separate interrogatory.

(1) If the party served is a public or private corporation or a partnership or association, the organization shall choose one or more of its proper employees, officers, or agents to answer the interrogatories, and the employee, officer, or agent shall furnish information as is known or available to the organization.

(2) Interrogatories, without leave of court, may be served upon the plaintiff after commencement of the action and upon any other party after service of the summons and complaint upon the party.

(3) Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath, unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons for objection shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall quote each interrogatory immediately preceding the corresponding answer or objection. When the number of interrogatories exceeds forty without leave of court, the party upon whom the interrogatories have been served need only answer or object to the first forty interrogatories. The answers are to be signed by the person making them, and the objections signed by the attorney making them. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers and objections within a period designated by the party submitting the interrogatories, not less than twenty-eight days after the service of the interrogatories or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow.

(B) Scope and use at trial Interrogatories may relate to any matters that can be inquired into under Civ.R. 26(B), and the answers may be used to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence. The party calling for such examination shall not thereby be concluded but may rebut it by evidence. An interrogatory otherwise proper is not objectionable merely because an answer to the interrogatory involves an opinion, contention, or legal conclusion, but the court may order that such an interrogatory be answered at a later time, or after designated discovery has been completed, or at a pretrial conference.

(C) Option to produce business records Where the answer to an interrogatory may be derived or ascertained from the business records, including electronically stored information, of the party upon whom the interrogatory has been served or from an examination, audit, or inspection of the business records, or from a compilation, abstract, or summary based on the business records, 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 the interrogatory to specify the records from which the answer may be derived or ascertained and to afford to the party serving the interrogatory reasonable opportunity to examine, audit, or inspect the records and to make copies of the records or compilations, abstracts, or summaries from the records.