Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 161 - Civil Rights Commission › Chapter 9 - Discrimination in Housing › Rule 161-9.9 - Interrogatories

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
Availability; procedures for use.
The commission may serve
			 written interrogatories to be answered by a party or, if the party from whom
			 the information is sought 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 be followed by a reasonable space for
				insertion of the answer An interrogatory which does not comply with this
				requirement shall be subject to objection. The interrogatories must be
				accompanied by a written notice informing the person to whom the
				interrogatories are directed that a response is mandatory and that sanctions
				can be levied for a failure to respond.
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
A party answering interrogatories must answer in the space
				provided or must set out each interrogatory immediately preceding the answer to
				it. A failure to comply with this rule shall be deemed a failure to answer and
				shall be subject to sanctions as provided in rule 161-9.16(216). Answers are to
				be signed by the person making them. Objections, if any, shall be served within
				30 days after the interrogatories are served. The commission may move for an
				order under subrule 9.16(1) with respect to any objection to or other failure
				to answer an interrogatory.
The commission shall not serve more than 30 interrogatories on
				any party under the authority of this rule except upon agreement by the person
				from whom information is sought or leave of the presiding officer for discovery
				granted upon a showing of good cause. A motion for leave to serve more than 30
				interrogatories must be in writing and shall set forth the proposed
				interrogatories and the reasons establishing good cause for their use.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this subrule the commission
				may, without limitation on the number of questions, solicit information from
				the parties in the form of a written questionnaire. The response to these
				questions, however, cannot be compelled under rule 161-9.16(216).
(2)
Scope.
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 presiding officer for
			 discovery may order that such an interrogatory need not be answered until a
			 later time.
(3)
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 commission 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 to the commission reasonable opportunity
			 to examine, audit or inspect such records and to make copies, compilations,
			 abstracts or summaries. A specification shall be in sufficient detail to permit
			 the commission to locate and identify as readily as can the party served, the
			 records from which the answer may be ascertained.