405.04(c) Signature of Responses and Authority of Signer
Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(1) Responding Party. The interrogatories must be answered:
- (A) by the party to whom they are directed; or
- (B) if that party is a public or private corporation, a partnership, an association, or a governmental agency, by any officer or agent, who must furnish the information available to the party.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(5) Signature. The person who makes the answers must sign them, and the attorney who objects must sign any objections.
Interrogatories must be answered by the party served. If the party served is a corporation, partnership, association, or governmental agency, the interrogatories must be answered by an officer, partner, or agent, who must furnish whatever information is available to the party served. [ Note 1.]
The term "agent" includes an attorney, who may answer even though he has no personal knowledge of the facts stated in the answers; the attorney’s answers, like an officer’s or partner’s answers, must contain the information available to the party served. [ Note 2.] However, an attorney who answers interrogatories on behalf of a corporation, partnership, association, or governmental agency may thereafter be exposed to additional discovery and possibly even disqualification. [ Note 3.]
Responses to interrogatories must be signed by the person making them, and objections to interrogatories must be signed by the attorney making them. [ Note 4.]
NOTES:
1. Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(1)(B).
2. See Allstate Insurance Co. v. Healthy America Inc., 9 USPQ2d 1663, 1665 (TTAB 1988).
3. See 37 C.F.R. § 11.307; Allstate Insurance Co. v. Healthy America Inc., 9 USPQ2d 1663 n.4 (TTAB 1988).
4. Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(5).