Interrogatories trip up a surprising number of bar takers — not because the rules are complicated, but because they’re easy to gloss over during prep and then suddenly appear in a Civil Procedure question where every detail matters.

Let’s fix that right now.

What Are Interrogatories and Why Do They Show Up on the MBE?

Interrogatories are written questions that one party serves on another party, who must respond in writing and under oath. That’s the core concept. But the MBE doesn’t test you on the definition — it tests you on the limits, the mechanics, and the exceptions. That’s where students get tripped up.

Interrogatories fall under discovery, which is one of the most heavily tested areas in Civil Procedure. The NCBE loves discovery questions because they’re rule-dense and the distinctions are precise. A question might hinge on whether a party responded on time, whether the number limit was exceeded, or whether a business records objection was properly invoked. These aren’t obscure edge cases. They’re exactly the kind of details that show up when you’re least prepared for them.

The Basic Framework Under FRCP 33

Under FRCP 33, interrogatories may only be directed to a party. This is a critical threshold point. You cannot serve interrogatories on a non-party witness, an expert who hasn’t been retained, or a third-party entity that isn’t a named party to the action. If a question asks whether a deposition or subpoena would be the right tool for a non-party, the answer is never interrogatories.

The default limit is 25 interrogatories, including all discrete subparts. Courts count subparts as separate interrogatories when they are not logically or factually subsumed within and necessarily related to the primary question. So if you ask one question with five independent sub-questions, you’ve likely used five of your 25. Parties can exceed this limit by stipulation or court order, but absent that, 25 is your ceiling.

The responding party has 30 days to serve answers or objections after being served with the interrogatories. If the interrogatories are served with the complaint, the responding party gets 30 days after being served with the complaint — or later, if the court sets a different deadline.

How Interrogatories Must Be Answered

Each interrogatory must be answered separately and fully, in writing, under oath. The responding party signs the answers. The attorney signs any objections.

Here’s a nuance that appears in MBE questions: the person who signs the answers doesn’t have to have personal knowledge of every fact. The responding party — whether an individual or a corporate entity — has an obligation to provide information that is reasonably available to it. That means the party must make a reasonable inquiry and compile information from employees, agents, and records within its control. A corporation can’t dodge interrogatories by saying the specific officer being asked doesn’t personally know the answer.

When a question asks about a business organization, the organization must designate an officer or agent to answer on its behalf.

The Business Records Option

FRCP 33(d) gives the responding party an important option. If the answer to an interrogatory can be found in business records, and if the burden of finding the answer is substantially the same for both parties, the responding party may respond by specifying those records and giving the asking party access to them.

This is sometimes called the option to produce business records. It’s not a blanket dodge — the responding party has to identify the specific records with enough detail that the asking party can actually locate the answers. Vague gestures at “our files” don’t cut it. The records must be specified, and the burden of review must genuinely be comparable.

This rule comes up in MBE hypotheticals where a defendant tries to avoid answering detailed financial questions by pointing to voluminous records. The question usually tests whether the burden-equivalence requirement is satisfied.

Objections to Interrogatories

A party can object to an interrogatory rather than answer it. Common grounds include:

Objections must be stated with specificity. A boilerplate objection that just says “overly broad and unduly burdensome” without any explanation is generally insufficient under the federal rules.

One thing to remember: objecting to part of an interrogatory doesn’t let you ignore the rest. If an interrogatory is partially objectionable, you must answer the unobjectionable portion.

Scope of Discovery and the Proportionality Requirement

Interrogatories, like all discovery tools, are governed by the general scope of discovery under FRCP 26(b)(1). Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case.

Proportionality is not just a buzzword. Courts weigh:

  1. The importance of the issues at stake
  2. The amount in controversy
  3. The parties’ relative access to relevant information
  4. The parties’ resources
  5. The importance of the discovery in resolving the issues
  6. Whether the burden or expense is outweighed by likely benefit

For MBE purposes, the key takeaway is that relevance alone doesn’t make discovery automatically available. Proportionality is a genuine limiting principle, and interrogatories that are technically relevant but wildly disproportionate can be limited or quashed.

A Quick Hypothetical to Tie It Together

Imagine this MBE-style fact pattern: A plaintiff sues a corporate defendant for breach of contract. The plaintiff serves 30 interrogatories on the defendant without seeking leave of court or a stipulation. The defendant objects to all 30 on the ground that the limit has been exceeded.

Is the objection valid? Yes — at least as to the last five. The plaintiff exceeded the 25-question default limit without authorization. The defendant’s objection to interrogatories 26 through 30 is proper. The first 25 must still be answered or objected to on other grounds.

Now modify the facts: the defendant answers 20 of the 25 permissible interrogatories and objects to the remaining five as privileged. The defendant’s attorney signs the objections but the defendant doesn’t sign the answers to the 20 questions it did answer.

Is that a problem? Yes. The responding party — not just the attorney — must sign the answers under oath. The attorney signs objections. Mixing those up is exactly the kind of procedural detail the MBE exploits.

FlashTables on Interrogatories

FlashTables is a set of professionally formatted two-column PDF rule tables covering all seven MBE subjects — 704 rules total, organized by the official NCBE Subject Matter Outline. The Civil Procedure table includes 99 rules, and the interrogatory rules under FRCP 33 are laid out side-by-side with their elements so you can run through them quickly and confirm you’ve got the details locked in. Whether you’re a law student building out your Civil Procedure outline or a bar taker drilling active recall in the final weeks before the exam, having the rule and its elements in a single clean row makes the review process faster and stickier. You can find the full table lineup at getflashtables.com.

Key Takeaways: What to Memorize for Interrogatories on the Bar Exam

Before you move on, make sure these are locked in:

These rules aren’t glamorous. But they’re exactly the kind of detail that separates a correct answer from a near-miss on test day. Get them down cold.