Q: CCP § 2030.250 (a) vs CCP § 2030.250 (c).
Meaning: Responses to Special Interrogatories by attorney, that contain only objections - shall or not be signed? What is different between
CCP § 2030.250 (a) vs CCP § 2030.250 (c).
A:
Under California law, there is a difference between CCP § 2030.250 (a) and CCP § 2030.250 (c) regarding the signing of responses to special interrogatories that contain only objections.
CCP § 2030.250 (a) states:
"(a) The party to whom the interrogatories are directed shall sign the response under oath unless the response contains only objections."
This means that if the responses to the special interrogatories contain substantive answers along with objections, the responding party must sign the response under oath. However, if the responses contain only objections without any substantive answers, the responding party is not required to sign the response under oath.
On the other hand, CCP § 2030.250 (c) states:
"(c) If the responding party is a public or private corporation, or a partnership, association, or governmental agency, one of its officers or agents shall sign the response under oath on behalf of that party. If the officer or agent signing the response on behalf of the responding party is an attorney acting in that capacity for the party, that party waives any lawyer-client privilege and any protection for work product under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 2018.010) during any subsequent discovery from that attorney concerning the identity of the sources of the information contained in the response."
This subsection specifically addresses responses by entities such as corporations, partnerships, associations, or governmental agencies. In these cases, an officer or agent must sign the response under oath on behalf of the entity, even if the response contains only objections. Furthermore, if the signing officer or agent is an attorney acting in that capacity for the entity, the entity waives any lawyer-client privilege and work product protection during any subsequent discovery from that attorney concerning the sources of the information in the response.
In summary, while individual parties are not required to sign responses containing only objections under oath, entities must have an officer or agent sign such responses under oath, and if the signing officer or agent is an attorney, certain privileges may be waived.
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