Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

1. Your attorney should have already taken the plaintiff's deposition so you know what he or she is going to say. The parties should exchange witness lists at the final pretrial conference.

2. You can serve amended responses, but expect to be questioned about why you changed your answer.

1. A party may always testify as a witness, assuming that he or she has personal knowledge of the matter to which he or she is testifying and the testimony is relevant.

2. A party wishing to amend answer to interrogatories, has the right to do so. Leave of court is not required. You simply serve the amended answers on the interrogating party (and designate them as "amended.") At trial the party who served the interrogatories can use your original answer for impeachment as a prior inconsistent statment. Even if the amended answer contradicts the original answer, however, the responding party will not be bound as a matter of law to the original answer.

There is also a procedure for the party that served the interrogatories to seek a court order holding the original response binding on the responding party for purpose of the action. The court may grant the motion if it finds the failure to answer the original interrogatory correctly has prejudiced the interrogating party, the responding party has failed to show substantial justification for the incorrect answer, and prejudice cannot be cured by a continuance to permit further discovery or the use of the initial answer as impeachment. (Code ofCiv. Proc., sect. 2030.310 subd. (c).)