A. IN GENERAL. A party may serve on any other party a request within the scope of Section 3226 of this title:

1. To produce and permit the requesting party or its representative to inspect, copy, test or sample the following items in the possession, custody or control of the responding party:

a.any designated documents or electronically stored information - including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images and other data or data compilations – stored in any medium from which information can be obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the responding party into a reasonably usable form, or

b.any designated tangible things; or

2. To permit entry onto designated land or other property possessed or controlled by the responding party so that the requesting party may inspect, measure, survey, photograph, test or sample the property or any designated object or operation on it.

B. PROCEDURE. 1. The request:

a.shall describe with reasonable particularity each item or category of items to be inspected,

b.shall specify a reasonable time, place and manner for the inspection and for performing the related acts, and

c.may specify the form or forms in which electronically stored information is to be produced.

2.a.The request may be served, without leave of court, upon any party after the filing of a petition. The party to whom the request is directed shall respond in writing within thirty (30) days after being served. The thirty-day response period shall not commence until an answer to the petition is filed. However, upon leave of court or otherwise agreed to in writing by the parties subject to Section 3229 of this title, the response to the request may be required prior to the filing of an answer to the petition.

b.For each item or category, the response shall either state that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested or state with specificity the grounds for objecting to the request, including the reasons. The responding party may state that it will produce copies of documents or of electronically stored information instead of permitting inspection. The production shall be completed no later than the time for inspection specified in the request, or another reasonable time specified in the response.

c.An objection shall state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection. An objection to part of a request shall specify the part and permit inspection of the rest.

d.The response may state an objection to a requested form for producing electronically stored information. If the responding party objects to a requested form, or if no form was specified in the request, the party shall state the form or forms it intends to use.

e.Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court, these procedures apply to producing documents or electronically stored information:

(1)a party shall produce documents as they are kept in the usual course of business or shall organize and label them to correspond to the categories in the request,

(2)if a request does not specify a form for producing electronically stored information, a party shall produce it in a form or forms in which it is ordinarily maintained or in a reasonably usable form or forms, and

(3)a party need not produce the same electronically stored information in more than one form.

C. NONPARTIES. A nonparty may be compelled to produce documents and tangible things or to permit an inspection as provided in Section 2004.1 of this title.

Added by Laws 1982, c. 198, § 11. Amended by Laws 1989, c. 129, § 10, eff. Nov. 1, 1989. Renumbered from § 3211 of this title by Laws 1989, c. 129, § 14, eff. Nov. 1, 1989. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 351, § 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 2008, c. 394, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2008; Laws 2010, c. 50, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 2010; Laws 2017, c. 378, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 2017; Laws 2018, c. 313, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2019.

NOTE: Laws 2017, c. 389, § 6 repealed by Laws 2018, c. 313, § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2019.