A list of written questions about any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to
claims and defenses at issue in the litigation submitted by one party (the
plaintiff or the defendant) to the other party as part of the pretrial
discovery process in a civil action. The recipient must answer the questions in
writing, usually under oath within a specified period of time (for example,
within 30 days after being served with the interrogatories). Answers to
interrogatories are used to refine and clarify the issues and to focus on
discrete theories and facts to develop the case for trial but cannot be used to
elicit privileged information, such as communications between a party and its
attorney.