Episode 10
Interrogatories
What are interrogatories in Australian litigation?
WHY THESE FORMAL QUESTIONS MATTER – AND WHEN THEY’RE USED
Interrogatories are formal written questions exchanged between parties in litigation and answered under oath. Designed to extract factual admissions, they are rarely used in modern Australian litigation outside of defamation cases, unless highly targeted and approved by the court. Fiona draws on over 30 years of experience to explain how interrogatories work, why they’re so powerful, and when they’re most effective.
In this episode, Fiona discusses:
- what interrogatories are and how they work
- when courts allow them in modern proceedings
- how they differ from general discovery
- why they’re still common in defamation cases
- her real-world experience using interrogatories strategically
VIDEO SCRIPT:
Interrogatories are a fancy name for questions. They are formal written questions that are asked by one party to the other and which are required to be answered under oath. Usually, they are questions which seek admissions about facts which are uniquely within the knowledge of the other party in the proceedings. A party is required to answer the questions truthfully and you can be sure they will be cross examined extensively on their answers. The answers can then be tendered in the proceedings as evidence of admissions on questions of fact. Mostly the questions are designed to be answered yes or no and they are designed in a cascading sequence designed to lead ultimately to an inescapable conclusion about a particular issue of fact.
These days a party needs the leave of the court to administer interrogatories. It’s rarely given except as to one or two targeted questions or in defamation proceedings where they are common.
In over 30 years in litigation interrogatories have been rarely in proceedings, other than defamation proceedings, and in those proceedings the questions were limited to very specific issues.
