Rosenberg v. Johns-Manville Corp.
85 F.R.D. 292 (1980)
Author: Jim

Facts: Plaintiff sued defendant for injuries caused by asbestos manufactured by the defendant.  P claimed that D failed to warn of the dangers of asbestos.  P also claimed that D conspired with other asbestos manufactures and also withheld P’s medical records.  P served 57 interrogatories on D.  D claims that the interrogatories are overly burdensome and not reasonably calculated to lead to discoverable evidence.

Procedure:  Magistrate ordered D to answer the interrogatories.

Issue:  Whether D has met his burden in showing that the interrogatories were improper.

Holding: No

Rationale:  D made conclusory statements that the interrogatories were overly burdensome and not reasonably calculated to lead to discoverable evidence.  But just because interrogatories may be time consuming and expensive to answer, does not make them overly burdensome.   Plaintiff’s interrogatories are narrowly tailored to the issues at hand and hence they are proper.