Chapter 2 - 2.6 Requests For Production

• Jurisdiction: Virginia

2.6 REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION

2.601 Procedure. Many of the general objections discussed above apply with equal force to requests for production of documents, electronically stored information, or other items. Rule 4:9(b) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia requires the party opposing a request for production to object within the same period given to produce or permit viewing of the requested material.⁷² Objections to the production of an item, in whole or in part, or to a category of items must be specific. A statement of the relief requested must be included in any motion and must also disclose whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of the objection.⁷³ If a motion to compel is filed by the requesting party, the party opposing the request should consider whether it is necessary to file a motion for a protective order to support the objection.⁷⁴ The rule does also say that the documents must be produced as they are "kept in the usual course of business or [the custodian] shall organize and label them to correspond with the categories in the request." As such, simply producing a batch of numbered documents without indicating the paragraph of the request to which they are responsive is not in compliance with the rule and therefore may be objectionable.

2.602 Business Records. Unlike the process described in Rule 4:8(f), which provides an option for a party to produce the underlying business records in answer to an interrogatory, a party who is producing business records in response to a request to produce may either label the records and organize them into the categories requested or produce them as they are kept in the usual course of business.⁷⁵ But if the request suggests a method of production that is not convenient, and the parties cannot resolve the matter, the court may issue a limited protective order that will make the production less burdensome. There also is no requirement to point the requesting party in the right direction under this rule as there is in the context of an interrogatory.

2.603 Tax Returns. In a typical personal injury case a request for tax returns may be appropriately objected to, to the extent that it calls for investment income or spousal income. If the plaintiff is a wage earner whose W-2 reflects his or her only employment, then the production of the W-2 should suffice, and the production of any tax returns may be objectionable.⁷⁶ Likewise if the plaintiff is self-employed, then the production of the schedule c should suffice.

2.604 Surveillance Information. There are different schools of thought on videos. The majority opinion seems to fall into category 1 below:

1. Produce all of it when asked for in discovery because it is not protected as

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