Legal Question in Business Law in California

Request for production and inspection of Documents

''Notwithstanding the above request, defendant(s) may avoid a personal appearance on the date, at the time and place set forth aove, by furnishing, no later than February25,1999, copies of the documents described below accompanied by sn affidavit or decleration from custodian of such documents, which attests to the accuracy and completeness of the copies.

Please note that you are required byC.C.P section 2031, to file and serve a written response to this demmand for production with in twenty days.

My question is this a defective document because we are in the year 2008 and this is the first request for production of documents ''no later than February, 25, 1999''


Asked on 4/17/08, 12:28 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Request for production and inspection of Documents

In my practice of law, I get (and probably send out) discovery documents containing errors of this kind rather frequently. Usually it is a consequence of preparing the discovery request by "cut-and-paste" techniques on the word processor, then not editing carefully.

I think there is a policy behind the Civil Discovery Act, that judges will recognize and enforce, that discovery should move forward smoothly and quickly to achieve the objective of prompt and full disclosure of discoverable facts well before trial.

Therefore, opposing counsel and parties should overlook obvious errors and handle the discovery according to its readily-discernible meaning, notwithstanding technical errors in its preparation. In my opinion, the right thing to do is to pick up the phone and call opposing counsel and point out the error and ask what date they really meant to specify. If that doesn't work, you can probably figure out from the other dates in the production demand, such as the date in the proof of service, plus the deadlines set up in CCP 2031, when the responses are due.

If you stand on the technicality, the court may sanction you for failure to respond (on motion of the opposing party). In any event, if the opposition is persistent, at some point you are going to be obliged to cough up the documents, so why invite delay and expense for yourself?

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Answered on 4/17/08, 1:06 pm
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

Re: Request for production and inspection of Documents

Well, that law is outdated, too. You are now required to respond -and- produce in 30 (plus 5 for mailing) days. The Code of Civil Procedure's Discovery Act also has been renumbered to 2031.030. Sloppy work!

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Answered on 4/17/08, 1:29 pm


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