Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Request For Production of Documents

1) The demanding party gets to specify the time and place for production of documents, but it must be reasonable. Most attorneys work this out between them, since courtesy and reasonableness are part of the ethics of the profession. I suggest you phone the attorney and work something out that will place the requested items in her hands without undue difficulty for either of you.

2) Discovery responses must be furnished in "useable form." Some attorneys would rather get discovery in electronic form, others can't use it. Again, you should ask the opposing attorney. If this matter had to be decided by a judge, which the judge would certainly rather not be bothered with, a reasonableness standard would be applied.

3) If the cost of preparing discovery exceeds a modest amount, making figuring the cost and billing for it worthwhile, the demanding party must pay the responding party the reasonable cost to locate, copy and ship the material. This is not dependent pon the outcome of the case, but again it is something that should be discussed in advance! Remember that discovery is a reciprocal process - you can force the defendant to produce documents and things just as they can force you to do so.

Also bear in mind that a document-production demand requires two responses: a response to the demand saying that you will or won't comply, etc., is due within 30 days, and the production itself at the time demanded, but at least 35 days after the demand is served.