What is the effect of a failure to answer interrogatories in a deposition?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Garza v. Delano Union Elementary School Dist., 110 Cal.App.3d 303, 167 Cal.Rptr. 629 (Cal. App. 1980):
In stating its reasoning for the dismissal, the trial court cited appellant's failure to answer interrogatories. The court should not have given this factor any consideration due to the open time for answering which the District and appellant each gave the other.
As stated in Scherrer v. Plaza Marina Coml. Corp. (1971) 16 Cal.App.3d 520, 523, 94 Cal.Rptr. 85, 87:
"The ultimate sanction of default against a litigant who willfully fails to appear for the taking of his deposition is a drastic penalty which should be sparingly used; ordinarily it would be used only when lesser sanctions have failed. (Citation.) . . ." (See Kaplan v. Eldorado Ins. Co. (1976) 55 Cal.App.3d 587, 591, 127 Cal.Rptr. 699.)
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