A. INFORMAL DISCOVERY POLICY:
1. It is the policy of the Court to encourage professional informal discovery in preference
to formal discovery and to avoid the Court’s involvement in the discovery process.
a. This policy is not intended to discourage the use of depositions to discover and
record evidence as provided in the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.
b. Counsel shall make every effort to comply with this policy.
2. Upon informal request, parties and counsel shall participate in pretrial discovery
conferences and shall freely exchange discoverable information and documents.
B. INFORMAL DISCOVERY PROCEDURE:
1. If applicable, pro se parties or counsel shall make the initial disclosures required by Civ. R. 26.
2. Pro se parties or counsel shall employ informal discovery requests for necessary information
or documents.
3. If the party or counsel to whom an informal discovery request was made complies with the
request, in order to preserve the fruits of discovery, the participating parties or counsel may enter
a stipulation setting forth the discovery provided in response to the request. If otherwise admissible,
the stipulation may be used in evidence as an agreed statement of fact.
4. If a party or counsel fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to an informal discovery
request or makes objections thereto, the parties or counsel shall discuss the impasse and attempt
to resolve such impasse informally.
5. No application for protective order, objection to any form of discovery, motion to compel, motion
for sanctions or the like (“Formal Discovery Request”), pursuant to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure,
shall be filed with the Court until diligent effort has been made to resolve the impasse without the
involvement of the Court.
C. REQUIREMENTS AND EFFECT OF LOCAL RULE:
1. Certificate of Impasse:
a. A certificate of impasse shall be affixed to or made a part of any Formal Discovery
Request.
b. The certificate of impasse shall include the specific times and methods of attempted
informal resolution.
2. Any insufficient or unwarranted Formal Discovery Request and any unwarranted
opposition or failure to respond to formal or informal discovery requests may subject
the offender to sanctions under Civ. R. 37 and this Rule, including the imposition of
costs, expenses, and reasonable counsel fees.
D. DISCOVERY DEADLINE:
The assigned Judge or Magistrate may order discovery to be completed at a fixed time prior
to the trial date.
E. FILING OF DISCOVERY DOCUMENTS:
1. Except on the order of the Court, for use as evidence in consideration
of a motion, or as otherwise provided in Subsection (E)(4) of this Rule,
depositions, initial disclosures pursuant to Civ. R. 26, interrogatories,
requests for documents, requests for admission and answers and
responses thereto (“Discovery Documents”) shall not be filed with the Clerk.
2. If Discovery Documents are not accompanied by a certification
by counsel that the Discovery Documents are being filed on order
of the Court or for use as evidence in consideration of a motion,
the Clerk shall not accept the Discovery Documents for filing.
3. All Discovery Documents filed with the Clerk shall be served in
accordance with Mont. Co. C.P.R. 1.15(H) and Civ. R. 5.
4. A copy of any deposition that may be used at trial shall be provided to
the Court in accordance with Mont. Co. C.P.R. 2.07(D).
F. INTERROGATORIES:
1. Total Number of Interrogatories: In the interest of facilitating discovery between
litigants, and pursuant to Civ. R. 33, the total number of interrogatories submitted by
any one party to another party shall not exceed 40, including sub-parts. For purposes of
this Rule, each question or statement requiring a response shall be considered one
interrogatory.
2. Additional Interrogatories: Additional interrogatories may be submitted by agreement
of the party from whom such additional information is sought or upon leave of Court by
motion filed by the requesting party showing good cause.
a. Either party may request a hearing or the Court may, on its own motion, assign the
matter for hearing.
b. The Court may grant or deny the request for additional interrogatories and impose
any conditions which the Court deems appropriate considering the circumstances
and the nature of the case.
c. Pursuant to Subsection (A), (B) and (C) of this Rule, the parties shall attempt to
resolve any disputes as to the number of interrogatories between themselves prior
to involving the Court.
Montgomery County Courts Building
41 N Perry St
Dayton, OH 45422
Reibold Building
14 W 4th St
Dayton, OH 45402
