Litigants must restate question when providing written discovery answers
Litigants, when responding to requests for production, written deposition questions, interrogatories, and requests for admission, must restate the posed questions before answering or providing another response under a new civil procedure rule.
The Supreme Court on October 7 approved adding subdivision (i) to Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280 (General Provisions Governing Discovery). The Civil Procedure Rules Committee, in requesting the change, said it will provide greater clarity for litigants and judges.
The amended rule says when responding to requests for production, written deposition questions, interrogatories, and requests for admission, “the responding party shall state each deposition question, interrogatory, or discovery request in full as numbered, followed by the answer, objection, or other response.”
The committee also recommended — and the court agreed — that requiring a blank space following each interrogatory was outdated in a world of electronic documents and requested Rule 1.340 be amended accordingly.
The changes are effective October 15.
The unanimous court acted in In re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Civil Procedure 1.280 and 1.340, Case No. SC21-120.
