Step eight in how to win a lawsuit: The proper use of interrogatories

Interrogatories are written questions that a party is required to answer under oath. You can ask pretty much anything you want, although many courts restrict the number of interrogatories. The trick here is to remember that, while your opponent is required to sign the answers under oath, it is his lawyer who actually writes out the answers. And lawyers of course are great word smiths who can almost always find evasive ways to answer difficult questions. That’s why I only use interrogatories to gather information that is purely factual: names, addresses, employers, employment history, medical expenses, income reported on tax returns, the identities of all witnesses, the types and identities of all documents that may exist on a given issue, financial information, and the like. I get everything else I need at the deposition of the opposing party where the opponent must answer everything himself and cannot rely on his lawyer to help him respond to difficult questions.

Join me next week as I take a closer look at sensationalized celebrity trials. It will be the first in a new series called Under the Microscope.