Interrogatories in Maryland
Maryland Rule 2-421
governs the manner in which Maryland personal injury attorneys
may ask and answer interrogatories. Interrogatories are formal
questions in writing to the adverse party requiring written responses
under oath. Parties may serve thirty interrogatories to each other
and typically have thirty days to respond in Maryland. This rule
does not specifically direct how the 
interrogatories
should be asked. It can be either in the form of a question (usually
contention interrogatories) but, more typically, interrogatories
direct the answering party to supply specific information that
is described in the attorney's interrogatory.
Why are interrogatories so important to Maryland injury attorneys? Interrogatories are frequently the first and best line of discovery for the Maryland lawyer to know the factual basis on which the defendant's lawyer intends to defend the case and the areas the plaintiff's lawyer needs to explore further with other discovery mechanisms. Interrogatories help determine the strategy of who should be deposed, specific deposition questions that should be asked, and follow-up requests for production of documents and requests for admissions of fact. Accordingly, interrogatories prepared by the Maryland personal injury attorney that are carefully framed and doggedly pursued can create a quality road map to attack the weaknesses in the defense lawyer's case and can also expose the defense lawyer's arrogance in refusing to acknowledge that Plaintiff has a suffered a real injury in the accident.
We say "doggedly pursued" because Maryland lawyers defending auto accident cases have mastered the art of the frivolous objection. Many Maryland attorneys representing the defendants and their insurance companies often refuse to answer Plaintiff's interrogatories in personal injury auto accident cases. These Maryland lawyers will look for creative ways to avoid answering discovery because they do not want to be held to their answers at trial (also, in many cases, defense attorneys have a lot of cases and they do not want to make the effort to supply fair answers). These attorneys find comfort that few plaintiffs' lawyers in Maryland personal injury cases actually hold these defense lawyers feet to the fire and make them answer in spite of the attorney's objections.
There are many frivolous objections that these Maryland lawyers make on behalf of defendants. The most classic Maryland lawyer objection is that the interrogatory is objectionable under Maryland law because it is "vague, burdensome, over broad, and not reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence." While this is in some circumstances a valid objection in Maryland, many injury lawyers in personal injury cases use this objection to the simplest of questions simply because they do not want to provide response. These Maryland lawyers also object to interrogatories because a specific word is not defined (no matter what the word is, right down to question what the definition of "is" is). Another objection our attorneys are seeking more frequently is that the interrogatory does not ask for facts but the defendant's theory of the case. This objection is also ridiculous. One of the principal purposes of interrogatories is to ascertain the contentions of the adverse party. See Baltimore Transit Co. v. Mezzanotti, 227 Md. 8 (1961).
Regardless of what the objection is, it is imperative that the defendant's attorney be forced to provide an answer as required by Maryland Rules. If this effort fails, a motion to compel must be filed. Filing a motion to compel requires a good deal of work because a motion needs to be drafted and typically a Maryland judge will require the attorneys to attend a hearing on the motion. But the effort is necessary to get answers to interrogatories from the defendant's attorney that you can use against the defendant at trial.
(a) Availability; number. Any party may serve written interrogatories directed to any other party. Unless the court orders otherwise, a party may serve one or more sets having a cumulative total of not more than 30 interrogatories to be answered by the same party. Interrogatories, however grouped, combined, or arranged and even though subsidiary or incidental to or dependent upon other interrogatories, shall be counted separately. Each form interrogatory contained in the Appendix to these Rules shall count as a single interrogatory.
(b) Response. The party to whom the interrogatories are directed shall serve a response within 30 days after service of the interrogatories or within 15 days after the date on which that party's initial pleading or motion is required, whichever is later. The response shall answer each interrogatory separately and fully in writing under oath, or shall state fully the grounds for refusal to answer any interrogatory. The response shall set forth each interrogatory followed by its answer. An answer shall include all information available to the party directly or through agents, representatives, or attorneys. The response shall be signed by the party making it.
(c) Option to produce business records. When (1) 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 those business records or a compilation, abstract, or summary of them, and (2) the burden of deriving or ascertaining the answer is substantially the same for the party serving the interrogatory as for the party served, and (3) the party upon whom the interrogatory has been served has not already derived or ascertained the information requested, 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, compilations, abstracts, or summaries. A specification shall be in sufficient detail to permit the interrogating party to locate and to identify, as readily as can the party served, the records from which the answer may be ascertained.
(d) Use. Answers to interrogatories may be used at the trial or a hearing to the extent permitted by the rules of evidence.
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