Sample Product Liability Interrogatories

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

JANE DOE, et al.
Plaintiff,

v.

DJO INCORPORATED, et al.
Defendants.

CASE NO:

PLAINTIFF JANE DOE’S FIRST SET OF INTERROGATORIES
TO DEFENDANT DJO INCORPORATED

Plaintiffs, by counsel, pursuant to Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, propound the following Interrogatories to be answered under oath by Defendant DJO INCORPORATED (“DJO”), within thirty (30) days of service hereof.

Instructions and Definitions

In answering these Interrogatories, Defendant DJO, must furnish all information available to it, including information in possession of its attorneys and/or accountants, its investigators, and all persons acting on the Defendant’s behalf.

If Defendant DJO cannot answer any interrogatory in full after exercising due diligence to secure the information, it must so state in its answer to the extent possible, specifying its inability to answer the remainder while providing whatever information or knowledge it has concerning the unanswered portions and the efforts it has undertaken to secure the information sought.

Defendant DJO is reminded that all answers must be made separately and fully, and that an incomplete or evasive answer is a failure to answer.

The Interrogatories which follow are to be considered as continuing, and Defendant is requested to provide, by way of supplementary answers thereto, such additional information as it or any other person acting on its behalf may hereafter obtain which will augment or otherwise modify any answer it provides to any Interrogatory below. Any such supplementary answers are to be served upon counsel for Plaintiff.

In the following Interrogatories, the term “document” must be used in its customary broad sense, and, as such, includes any recordation of information whether printed, written, or otherwise produced by hand, recorded, reproduced or stored by any other mechanical or electronic process, method or means and whether claimed to be privileged or otherwise excludable from discovery. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term “document” includes:

1. agreements, accords, assents, understandings or letters of intent, reports and/or summaries of any negotiations with respect to reasonably relevant subject matter including such agreements, accords, understandings, letters of intent or proposals therefore;
2. communications, including intra-company communications, memoranda to a file, and notes of individuals who are identified in response to answers to these interrogatories which relate to relevant subject matter, correspondence such as letters, telegrams, telexes, cables, electronic e-mail and the like, inter-party memoranda, summaries, or records of telephone conversations, lists of individuals attending meetings, conferences or interviews and summaries or records of, or comments on, personal conversations, meetings or conferences;
3. diary entries, forecasts, charts, schematic drawings, statistical statements, graphs, laboratory and engineering reports, notebooks and recorded entries of any kind, blueprints, manuals, plans and drawings;
4. reports, minutes or other records of statements of policy;
5. reports, summaries, or records of any kind relating to investigations, opinions or reports of consultants and any summaries or records relating thereto;
6. records, e-mail, magnetic tape, magnetic disk or other machine-producible (or readable) records, including photographs and printout sheets;
7. drafts of any document as defined herein, revisions of drafts, original or preliminary notes on which documents as defined herein were based in whole or in part;
8. all copies of documents as defined herein which are not identical with the original, including those bearing marginal comments or other notations not present on the original document as initially written, typed or otherwise prepared, together with an identification of the individual or individuals who were the authors of such marginal comments or other notations.

In the following Interrogatories the term “identifies” means:

A. When used in reference to an event, meeting and/or discussion, the date, time and place thereof, the circumstances which relate to the event, meeting and/or discussion identified and the names, home and business addresses and business position or occupation of each and every person present and/or participation in or hearing any part of any event, meeting and/or discussion identified;

1. When used in reference to any entity other than a natural person, that entity’s official name or designation, its present address, its principal place of business, and its place and date of incorporation;
2. When used in reference to a document, defendant is requested to identify each and every relevant document and tangible object in its possession, custody or control, or otherwise known to it by giving: (1) a description of the general type of document, i.e., letter, memorandum report, miscellaneous note, etc, (2) the date; (3) the author; (4) the organization, if any, with which the author was then connected and his title or job description; (5) all addressees or recipients; (6) all other distributees; (7) the organization, if any, with which each addressee, recipient, or distributee was then connected; (8) a general summary of the subject matter; (9) grounds, if any, for refusing to produce the document; and (10) the present location of each such document and each copy known to Defendant, including the title, index number and location, if any, of the file in which the document is kept, or the file from which such document was removed, if removed for the purpose of this case;
3. When used in reference to a document identified in response to these Interrogatories which defendant produces to Plaintiff prior to or concurrently with its Answers to these Interrogatories, Defendant may identify each such document by its production number.

In the following Interrogatories, the terms “relate to” or “relates to” mean refer to, pertain to, report on, regard, have respect to, shown or indicate knowledge of, mention or tend to establish or negate a particular fact either directly or indirectly.

INTERROGATORY NO. 1:
Identify all person(s) who provided information responsive to the questions posed in
these discovery requests, including name, address, and telephone number and job title.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 2:
Please identify all sales representatives working for you who called on physicians or hospitals in Ohio during the past six years, and their supervisors, and their supervisors, on up to the top of the sales or marketing departments. (By sales representatives working for you, the interrogatory seeks the identify not only of sales representatives or “detail” people who were DJO employees, but also those who DJO may have hired to sell or detail its shoulder pain pumps).
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 3:
Please identify those persons working for you from 2018-2021 to present who were authorized to act as liaison, or to reach agreements with physicians, surgeons, or hospitals concerning the development, research, or marketing of shoulder pain pumps.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 4:
Please identify those persons working for you from 2018-2021 who were authorized to arrange for exhibits concerning disposable shoulder pain pumps to be scheduled and set up at meetings of orthopedic surgeons, sports physicians, hospital administrators, or other professional organizations.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 5:
Did you ever design or modify the design or engineering of a shoulder pain pump? If yes, please identify the date(s) of the design or modification, the person(s) responsible for the design or modification, and a description of any modifications.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 6:
Did you ever own or license a patent on a shoulder pain pump design or a shoulder pain pump component? If so, please provide the patent number.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 7:
Did you ever own or license a trademark on a shoulder pain pump brand name? If so, please provide the trademark.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 8:
List the addresses of your document depositories or any other place where you maintain or have maintained records concerning the manufacturing, distribution, sales, promotion, marketing, and/or any clinical data pertaining to shoulder pain pumps for the period of time when you first manufactured shoulder pain pumps up through and including the present. If the records have been moved at all during this time, state the reason for the move, and if a clear chain of custody cannot be established, give an explanation.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 9:
Please state whether you have retained or contracted, informally or formally, any former employee of yours for the purpose of providing testimony in the developing shoulder pain pump litigation. If your answer is “yes,” please state the name, last position held, date retained, the amount of compensation you agreed to pay him/her and the amount of compensation actually paid to date. ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 10:
Identify the names and state the present and/or last known address of your agents or employees with the most knowledge pertaining to shoulder pain pumps and/or the medications to be used with your shoulder pain pumps, who worked for you during the times you manufactured, produced, promoted, formulated, created, designed, sold and/or tested shoulder pain pumps, including but not limited to:

1. Your Product Managers.
2. The safety and compliance individuals in charge of reporting adverse reactions and complaints of side effects to the FDA or any other agency, and investigating all adverse reactions and complaints of side effects.
3. Your liaisons to the FDA, whether or not part of the regulatory affairs department.
4. Your researchers and developers responsible for the design, proper function, and proper pain medications to be used with your shoulder pain pumps.
5. Your in-house scientific researcher(s) who ever had any responsibility for the safety or effectiveness of your shoulder pain pumps.
6. Your chief medical officer.
7. Your chief information operating (“CIO”) officer.
8. Your chief regulatory affairs person.
9. The employees responsible for creating and updating the directions for use of the shoulder pain pumps.

ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 11: Please identify the person or person(s) who participated in any manner in the development of DJO’s shoulder pain pump product complaint or adverse event reporting system. For each person identified, please provide the person’s name, address, telephone number, job title, job responsibilities, dates of employment, and if they are no longer employed, the date and reason for termination.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 12: Please identify the date the shoulder pain pump product complaint or adverse event reporting system was created and describe in detail the reason DJO developed the system.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 13: Please identify each shoulder pain pump product complaint or adverse event report that DJO has received including the date received and the surgeon(s) who submitted the Complaint.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 14: Please describe in detail DJO’s internal adverse event reporting system including but not limited to the person(s) who developed the adverse event reporting system, the person(s) responsible for overseeing the adverse reporting system, the person(s) that are responsible for submitting adverse events to the FDA, and the procedure(s) DJO follows when it receives an adverse event report whether from a doctor or patient.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 15: For each shoulder pain pump complaint or adverse event report identified in response to Interrogatory No. 13, please describe in detail all steps or actions DJO took in response including, but not limited to, the identity of the person(s) responsible for responding to the complaint/report, all communications with the surgeon who submitted the complaint/report, and how the complaint/report was resolved.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 16: A Request for Production was served upon your counsel. Please identify all documents requested in the Request for Production which have been destroyed, disposed of or are no longer available, and set forth the present location of the originals or copies thereof.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 17: For each Interrogatory, please identify each person whom you consulted in preparing your answers or any part thereof.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 18: Please identify all persons known to DJO who have personal knowledge of material facts in this matter. For each person identified, please provide a brief description of their knowledge and provide their last known address and telephone number.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 19: Please state whether DJO has had any communications with the Plaintiff(s). If so, please provide the date of the communication, who participated in the communication, and a description of the communication.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 20: Please state whether DJO (including its actual and/or apparent agents, servants, and/ore employees) has had any communications with the Plaintiff’s physician. If so, please provide the date of the communication, who participated in the communication, and a description of the communication.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 21: Please provide a detailed description of the instructions DJO and/or its sales representatives provide to treating phy
sicians with respect to installation and use of DJO shoulder pain pumps including but not limited to the person(s) who developed the instructions, any and all revisions to the instructions including the date of the revisions, and how the instructions are communicated to physicians.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 22: Please state whether DJO has ever had communications with any pharmaceutical company regarding the use of shoulder pain pumps and anesthetics including but not limited to the use of shoulder pain pumps near any joint, intra-articular use of shoulder pain pumps, and the effects of anesthetics on cartilage. If so, please provide the name, address, and phone number of each person who participated in the communication, the date of the communication, and a description of the communication.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 23: Please state whether DJO has ever had communications with the FDA regarding the use of shoulder pain pumps including but not limited to the use of shoulder pain pumps near any joint, intra-articular use of shoulder pain pumps, and the effects of anesthetics on cartilage. If so, please provide the name, address, and phone number of each person who participated in the communication, the date of the communication, and a description of the communication.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 24: Please state whether DJO has ever had communications with any other manufacturer of shoulder pain pumps regarding the use of shoulder pain pumps including but not limited the use of shoulder pain pumps near any joint, intra-articular use of shoulder pain pumps, and the effects of anesthetics on cartilage. If so, please provide the name, address, and phone number of each person who participated in the communication, the date of the communication, and a description of the communication.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 25: Please identify all studies and/or clinical trials done to evaluate the safety and efficacy of shoulder shoulder pain pumps generally, the safety and efficacy of intra-articular placement of the catheter in the shoulder joint, and the effects of anesthetics on cartilage.
ANSWER:

INTERROGATORY NO. 26: State the nature and extent of all liability insurance coverage of every kind available directly or indirectly to you to pay any judgment awarded in this action, and include the name or names of each insurance company and the applicable limits of liability insurance in effect for each entity and/or occurrence.

1. If there was more than one policy of insurance applicable in this instance, identify each insurance company as indicated above and state which liability insurance company is the primary insurance carrier and identify any and all self-insurance, secondary, reserve and /or umbrella liability insurance carriers, if any.
2. Attach a copy of the coverage/declaration sheet from each such liability insurance company setting forth all the available limits of coverage applicable to this occurrence.

ANSWER:
I AFFIRM UNDER THE PENALTIES FOR PERJURY THAT THE FOREGOING IS TRUE AND ACCURATE TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE.

Date
Representative of DJO INCORPORATED

Respectfully submitted,
By:

Ronald V. Miller
Miller & Zois, LLC
400 E Pratt St # 800
Baltimore, MD 20201
(410) 779-4600
(410) 760-8922 (Fax)
Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Certificate Of Service

I hereby certify that on this _____day of _________, 2021, a copy of Plaintiff JANE DOE’S First Set of Interrogatories to Defendant DJO INCORPORATED was sent via electronic mail and first-class mail, postage prepaid to:

Attorneys for Defendant MCKINLEY MEDICAL L.L.C

Attorneys for Defendant DJO INCORPORATED

 

Product Liability Interrogatories to the Plaintiff

What type of interrogatory questions can you expect if you are the the Plaintiff?  Below are interrogatories that you will like see in any product defect case.

1. If you will contend that the product was defective when it left the control of the defendant, identify each part of the product you believe was defective. Include in your answer whether the defect alleged is one of design or a manufacturing defect.
2. With respect to each part identified in your answer to the previous interrogatory, describe with specificity the nature of the design or construction defect.
3. With respect to each part identified in your answer to Interrogatory Number 1 for which you contend a defect in design, state in detail the way in which you contend such part should have been designed.
4. With respect to each par identified in your answer to Interrogatory Number 1 for which you contend a defect in manufacturing, identify the applicable manufacturing specifications of each part and state how each such part failed to meet its prescribed specifications.
5. If you contend that the defendant failed to provide adequate warnings regarding the product, state in detail exactly how you contend the warnings were inadequate and how you contend could have made the warnings adequate.
6. Identify all persons whom you believe to have, or who claim to have, personal knowledge of facts set forth in your answers to interrogatories 1 through 5, and identify all documents referring or relating to such facts.
7. Identify all persons whom you believe to have, or who claim to have, inspected, repaired or performed maintenance upon the product and, for each person state the date of each such inspection, repair or maintenance, the purpose of each such inspection, repair, or maintenance, and identify all documents referring or relating to each such inspection, repair, or maintenance. Please attach copies of the documents to your answers to these interrogatories.

More on Interrogatories

• Interrogatory Objections: how to make them and how to deal with them
• Sample interrogatories in other tort cases of case
• Sample Pre-Trial Discovery (more sample discovery – depositions, requests for admission and production, etc).
• Sample Lawsuits (sample complaints in personal injury cases)
• Thoughts on Product Liability Discovery
• Helping Other Attorneys (most of our serious product liability cases come from referrals from other attorneys in and out of Maryland. Learn how you can still collect a fee while transferring primary responsibility for your case to us).