§37.8 Strategic and Practical Considerations

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§37.8 STRATEGIC AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

CR 37 must be read in conjunction with CR 11 and CR 26(g). CR 11 provides for mandatory sanctions upon attorneys or their clients or both for signing a pleading, motion, or memorandum in violation of the rule. CR 11 provides that an attorney's signature on a given document constitutes a certificate that the paper is well grounded in fact, is warranted by existing law, and is not interposed for any improper purpose. As such, CR 11 requires a reasonable inquiry into the law and the facts prior to the filing of the pleading, motion, or other paper. Similarly, CR 26(g) provides that the signature of an attorney on a discovery request constitutes a "certificate," i.e., that the request is consistent with the rules, is not interposed for any improper purpose, and is not unreasonable or unduly burdensome or expensive. These two rules, although sometimes considered hand-in-hand with CR 37, address distinctly different situations and are not interchangeable. See Clipse v. State,61 Wn.App. 94, 808 P.2d 777 (1991). However, in the post-Fisons era, discovery and issues of sanctions have become intertwined.

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