Civil Procedure
Sep. 24, 2026
Fixing our broken civil discovery culture: Objectionable objections
The author argues that routine, meritless objections to written discovery delay litigation, increase costs and burden courts, and calls on lawyers and judges to curb the practice through substantive responses and greater use of sanctions.
Stanley Mosk Courthouse
Lawrence P. Riff
Supervising Judge
Los Angeles County Superior Court
General Civil, UDs
University of Oregon School of Law, 1982
Today's topic is lazy, rote, unthinking discovery objections made to written discovery--which is to say, virtually all such discovery objections. With almost no exception, those objections have no legal merit whatsoever, at least when interposed to non-abusive written discovery requests. They are just paragraphs of wasted printer ink, never to be seriously considered by any lawyer, client or judge.
One could argue that since nobody pays any a...
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