Sample discovery requests in federal civil cases fall into four written-and-oral tools authorized by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: interrogatories (written questions answered under oath), requests for production (demands for documents and electronically stored information), requests for admission (statements the other side must admit or deny), and depositions (live sworn testimony). Non-party evidence is pulled in through a Rule 45 subpoena. Each tool has its own format, numerical limits, and 30-day response clock, and the examples below show what the actual request language looks like in practice.
Before You Draft a Single Request
The quality of what you get back depends almost entirely on how carefully you prepare before writing. Start by identifying the specific facts you need to prove each element of your claims or defenses. A personal injury plaintiff needs evidence of the defendant’s negligence, the severity of injuries, and the connection between the two. A breach-of-contract defendant needs evidence that the contract terms were satisfied or that the other side failed first. Every request should trace back to a specific element you have to establish.
Then build a detailed timeline and map out who was involved at each stage. If the dispute centers on a business deal, identify the employees who negotiated terms, the servers where relevant emails are stored, and the dates when key decisions were made. That specificity does two things. It makes your requests harder to dodge with vague answers, and it makes them harder to challenge as overbroad. A request for “all emails between Jane Smith and Tom Rivera between March 1 and June 30, 2025, regarding the Acme supply contract” will get results. A request for “all communications related to the contract” will get an objection.
Keep proportionality in mind as you draft. Discovery reaches any non-privileged matter relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case. Courts weigh the importance of the issues, the amount in controversy, each side’s relative access to the information, each side’s resources, and whether the burden of producing the material outweighs its likely benefit.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery A $15,000 contract dispute does not justify the same discovery as a $15 million patent case. Information does not need to be admissible at trial to be discoverable, but privileged material (attorney-client communications, work product prepared in anticipation of litigation) is always off limits.
How to Format the Document
Every discovery document opens with a court caption identifying the court name, case number, and the names of the parties. Check the local rules for your specific court; formatting requirements vary, and some courts publish templates showing exactly how the caption should look.
After the caption, include a definitions section and an instructions section. Definitions pin down what key terms mean throughout the document. If you use the word “document,” define it to include emails, text messages, handwritten notes, photographs, and any other format you want covered. If you use “identify,” specify that it means providing the full name, address, phone number, and relationship to the case. Instructions tell the other side how to respond: whether to organize documents by request number, what to do if they withhold something as privileged, and the format you want for electronic files.
When a party withholds documents based on privilege, the federal rules require them to describe what they withheld in enough detail for the other side to evaluate the claim, typically through a privilege log.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery Building the privilege-log requirement into your instructions makes it harder for the responding party to hide behind blanket privilege claims later.
Sample Interrogatories
Interrogatories are written questions the other party must answer under oath. Rule 33 caps each side at 25 interrogatories, including discrete subparts, unless the court allows more or the parties agree to a different number.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 33 – Interrogatories to Parties That cap means every question has to earn its spot. Wasting three on background the other side already disclosed voluntarily under Rule 26(a)(1) is a mistake.
Effective interrogatories lock in specific facts early. Examples of targeted questions:
- “Identify each person who witnessed the collision on June 14, 2025, at the intersection of Oak Street and Main Avenue, including their full name, address, and a description of what they observed.”
- “Describe in detail all maintenance performed on the delivery vehicle (VIN: [number]) during the 12 months before the incident, including the date, nature of the work, and the person or company that performed it.”
- “State the total amount of revenue you received under the consulting agreement dated March 1, 2024, broken down by month.”
Each of these targets a specific event, vehicle, or agreement, so the responding party cannot reasonably object that the question is vague or overbroad. Answers are due under oath within 30 days of service. The responding party can direct you to business records instead of writing out answers, but only if the burden of finding the answer would be roughly the same for both sides.
Sample Requests for Production
Rule 34 lets you demand that the other side produce documents, electronically stored information, and tangible objects for inspection and copying.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 34 – Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes Unlike interrogatories, there is no presumptive numerical limit. Sample requests might read:
- “Produce all medical records, billing statements, and insurance correspondence related to treatment of [plaintiff’s name] from January 1, 2024, through the present.”
- “Produce all emails, text messages, and instant messages between [employee A] and [employee B] from February 1, 2025, through April 30, 2025, that reference or relate to the proposed merger with [Company X].”
- “Produce the complete personnel file of [employee name], including all performance evaluations, disciplinary records, and separation documents.”
These are the requests that get you the actual evidence rather than someone’s summary of it.
Specify the Format for Electronic Files
Most documents in modern litigation are electronic. When you draft production requests, specify the format you want. If you need to search large email archives, request production in a native or near-native format rather than printed PDFs, which strip out metadata like sent dates, recipient lists, and edit history. If your request does not specify a format, the responding party must produce the information either in the form it is ordinarily maintained or in a reasonably usable form, and is not required to produce the same information in more than one format.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 34 – Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes Address format expectations with opposing counsel early so there are no surprises when production starts.
Sample Requests for Admission
Requests for admission may be the most underused written discovery tool, and they can dramatically shorten a trial. Under Rule 36, you ask the other party to admit or deny specific statements of fact or the genuineness of documents.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admissions Every fact that gets admitted is conclusively established for the rest of the case; you no longer need witnesses or documents to prove it at trial. Examples:
- “Admit that the contract attached as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of the agreement signed by [defendant] on July 15, 2024.”
- “Admit that [defendant’s employee] was acting within the scope of their employment at the time of the collision.”
- “Admit that [defendant] received written notice of the alleged defect on or before October 1, 2024.”
If the other side admits the contract is authentic, you skip the entire foundation-laying process at trial. If they admit the employee was on the job, a potential defense disappears in one sentence. The responding party has 30 days to answer. If they fail to respond at all, every request is automatically deemed admitted. That default consequence gives requests for admission real teeth.
Subpoenas for Non-Party Evidence
The three tools above only reach parties to the lawsuit. If the evidence you need sits with a bank, a former employer, a hospital, or a disinterested witness, you use a Rule 45 subpoena to compel them to produce documents, appear for testimony, or both.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45 – Subpoena
A subpoena must identify the court, the case title and number, and the specific actions required. An attorney authorized to practice in the issuing court can issue and sign one directly. Before serving it on the non-party, you must send notice and a copy to every other party in the case. Service has to be made by someone at least 18 years old who is not a party, and if the subpoena requires a personal appearance, you must tender one day’s attendance fee and mileage at the time of service.
Geographic limits apply. A subpoena can require a person to appear for testimony or produce documents only within 100 miles of where they live, work, or regularly do business. A court must quash any subpoena that exceeds those geographic limits, does not allow reasonable time for compliance, demands privileged material, or imposes an undue burden. The non-party can serve a written objection before the compliance deadline or within 14 days of service, whichever comes first.
A Note on Depositions
Depositions are the one major discovery tool that does not come from a written request package. They are live, recorded testimony taken under oath outside the courtroom, and they let you ask follow-ups in real time. Each side is presumptively limited to 10 depositions, and each is limited to one day of seven hours, both of which the court can adjust.6United States Court of International Trade. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 30 – Depositions by Oral Examination They are expensive, so most litigators use interrogatories and production requests first to figure out what to ask, then depose the witnesses whose testimony actually matters.
Serving the Requests and the 30-Day Clock
Once your requests are finalized, you serve them on the opposing attorney, not on the party directly. Rule 5 allows hand delivery, mail to the attorney’s last known address, or electronic filing through the court’s ECF system.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers Electronic filing has become the default in most federal courts, and when you serve through ECF no separate certificate of service is needed. For any other method, attach a certificate of service stating the date and manner of delivery.
The responding party has 30 days from the date of service to provide written answers and produce any requested documents. That window applies to interrogatories, production requests, and requests for admission alike.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 33 – Interrogatories to Parties3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 34 – Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes When service is made by mail rather than electronically, Rule 6(d) adds three extra days.8Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time; Time for Motion Papers Missing a deadline can lead to sanctions, and for requests for admission specifically, a missed deadline means every fact in the request is deemed admitted.
When the Other Side Objects
Expect objections. The most common are that a request is overbroad, unduly burdensome, irrelevant, vague, or seeks privileged information. A well-drafted request minimizes these problems, but opposing counsel will still object to anything they can. A legitimate objection explains specifically why a request is problematic; a boilerplate objection just recites magic words. Courts routinely reject blanket “overbroad and unduly burdensome” objections that do not explain how or why.
When you receive objections, the first step is informal resolution. Pick up the phone or send a letter explaining why you believe the information is discoverable and try to negotiate a compromise. Perhaps you narrow the date range, or the other side produces a subset of documents with the rest to follow. This is not optional courtesy. Before filing any motion with the court, Rule 37 requires you to certify that you attempted in good faith to resolve the dispute without court intervention.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions
If good-faith efforts fail, you file a motion to compel. The court treats evasive or incomplete answers the same as a total failure to respond. If the court grants the motion, the losing side typically pays the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the dispute. Sanctions escalate from there: courts can prohibit a party from using certain evidence, direct that specific facts be taken as established, strike pleadings, or enter a default judgment in extreme cases of discovery abuse.
Protective Orders for Sensitive Material
Discovery sometimes forces the production of genuinely sensitive material: trade secrets, proprietary business data, personal medical records, or financial information that could cause harm if made public. Rule 26(c) lets either party ask the court for a protective order limiting how that information is used or disclosed. The party seeking protection must show “good cause,” meaning a specific and serious injury that would result from unrestricted disclosure. Vague confidentiality claims are not enough.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery
Before filing the motion, try to work out a confidentiality agreement with the other side. Many cases use a stipulated protective order both parties draft together, which the court then enters. A typical order designates certain documents as “Confidential” or “Attorneys’ Eyes Only,” restricts who can view them, and prohibits using them for any purpose outside the litigation.
The Ongoing Duty to Supplement
Discovery does not end when you submit your responses. Under Rule 26(e), if you learn that any prior disclosure or discovery response is materially incomplete or incorrect, you must supplement or correct it in a timely manner.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery This duty applies to initial disclosures, interrogatory answers, production responses, and expert reports, and it runs all the way through trial. If you identified five witnesses in an interrogatory answer and later find a sixth with relevant information, update the response.
The penalty for ignoring the duty is severe. Under Rule 37(c)(1), a party that fails to supplement cannot use the undisclosed information or witness at a hearing, in a motion, or at trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or harmless.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions Courts can also order the non-compliant party to pay attorney’s fees, inform the jury about the failure, or impose harsher sanctions. A party that sits on updated information and tries to spring it at trial may find the evidence excluded entirely.