Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
What should I do if I find an error in discovery after I've already served the discovery on the opposing party? Do I resend the documents or send a notice of errata?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Send an amended response to that one interrogatory, explain in the document that the previous response inadvertently contained an error, and the amendment corrects the error. Do it ASAP. And don't forget to verify the new response.
It depends.
If you are propounding discovery, you may have to draft a new discovery request. This may be a problem if you are in limited civil litigation and are subject to a limit on the amount or type of discovery. In general unlimited civil litigation, you may have to do a declaration of necessity, if your request exceeds the statutory minimums.
For example, if you propounded 35 special interrogatories in a general unlimited case, and you have to correct the wording of the interrogatories, you would have to prepare a new set of interrogatories, and probably prepare a declaration of necessity unless you obtained a stipulation from the responding party.
If your error was in the responses to their discovery, the solution is much easier. You simply prepare amended responses, and verify, as Mr. Cohen pointed out.