Sec. 1.729  Interrogatories to parties.

    (a) During the time period beginning with service of the complaint 
and ending 30 days after the date an answer is due to be filed, any 
party may serve any other party written interrogatories, to be answered 
in writing by the party served or, if the party served is a public or 
private corporation or partnership or association, by any officer or 
agent who shall furnish such information as is available to the party.

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All interrogatories served on an opposing party shall be filed with the 
Commission at the time of service. Parties shall propound no more than 
30 single interrogatories without prior Commission approval. Subparts of 
an interrogatory will be counted as separate interrogatories for 
purposes of compliance with this limit. This procedure may be used for 
the discovery of any nonprivileged matter which is relevant to the 
pleadings. Interrogatories may not be employed for the purpose of delay, 
harassment or to obtain information which is beyond the scope of 
permissible inquiry relating to the subject matter of the pleadings.
    (b) Parties on whom interrogatories are served shall respond without 
waiting to be ordered to do so by the Commission. Each interrogatory 
shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath or 
affirmation, unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons for 
objection shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The answers shall be 
signed by the person making them. The party on whom the interrogatories 
were served shall serve a copy of the answers and objections, if any, 
within 30 days after service of the interrogatories, except that a 
defendant may serve answers or objections within 15 days after filing 
its answer to the complaint, whichever period is longer. On proper 
motion being made, the Commission may allow a shorter or longer time for 
the filing of answers or objections.
    (c) Where the responding party has failed to respond, or has 
objected, to any interrogatory, the party propounding the 
interrogatories may, within 15 days of the date the response was due if 
no response is filed or the date of service of the objection, move to 
compel a response thereto. The motion should state with specificity the 
relevance of and necessity for the requested information and must also 
comply with the requirements of Sec. 1.727 of this part pertaining to 
motions generally. Alternately, the party may request that answers to 
interrogatories be discussed during a status conference, pursuant to 
Sec. 1.733.
    (d) Answers to interrogatories shall not be filed with the 
Commission unless so ordered by the Commission or its staff.
    (e) The Commission may in its discretion limit the scope of 
permissible inquiry so that matters pertaining solely to the amount or 
computation of damages are not addressed until after a finding of 
liability has been made against the complainant. Inquiries that relate 
dually to liability and damages will be permitted during initial 
discovery conducted during the liability phase. If a bifurcated 
framework is implemented and a finding of liability is made, the parties 
shall, within 5 working days, inform the Commission whether they wish to 
defer damages discovery in order to enter negotiations for the purpose 
of settling their dispute. If the parties commence settlement 
negotiations, damages discovery shall not be undertaken prior to 20 days 
after release of the liability order.
[ 53 FR 11854 , Apr. 11, 1988, as amended at  58 FR 25572 , Apr. 27, 1993]