Section 9.19 Proving Agency, Financial Status, and Uninsured Motorist Status With Interrogatories

• Library: Sources of Proof (2014 Ed.)

1. (§9.19) Proving Agency, Financial Status, and Uninsured Motorist Status With Interrogatories

The defendant’s answers to interrogatories concerning agency can be read in the plaintiff’s case-in-chief to prove that the tortfeasor was the defendant’s agent. See:

· Wills v. Townes Cadillac-Oldsmobile, Inc., 490 S.W.2d 257 (Mo. 1973)

· Young v. Frozen Foods Express, Inc., 444 S.W.2d 35 (Mo. App. E.D. 1969)

· Coons v. Farrell, 437 S.W.2d 674 (Mo. App. W.D. 1969)

In cases in which the financial status of a party is properly in issue, interrogatories concerning that financial condition would be within the scope of discovery and therefore proper. State ex rel. Ford v. Adolf, 724 S.W.2d 612 (Mo. App. E.D. 1986). This most commonly arises in an action involving a claim for punitive damages. There, evidence of the defendant’s financial condition is relevant...