Merchants' Grocery Co. v. Merchants' Trust & Banking Co.

Citations

• 119 Miss. 99
• 80 So. 494

Syllabus

<p>1. Dtscoveby. Interrogatories. Penalties for failure to answer.</p> <p>The severe penalty provided by section 1938 of the Code of 1906 (Hemingway’s Code, section 1598), authorizing dismissal of defendant’s plea if he fails to answer the interrogatories within a reasonable time, should not be inflicted unless the requirements of the statute have been strictly complied with by the party invoking it, and the alleged default of the party against whom it is invoked clearly appears.</p> <p>2. Discovery. Interrogatories. Service. Sufficiency.</p> <p>Since section 3.941 of the Code of 1906 (Hemingway’s Code, section 2948), requires that “all notices provided by law appertaining to action, suits, or proceedings of any kind in any court shall be served and returned by the sheriff or any constable of the county or marshal of any city, town or village therein in which such notices are to be served,” the service of interrogatories on the attorney of a non-resident defendant by the stenographer of the counsel for complainant is ineffective, and of itself, imposes no duty on the defendant to answer.</p> <p>3. Discovery. Interrogatories. Service. Waiver.</p> <p>Formal service of interrogatories on counsel for non-resident defendants may be waived, but such service is not waived by implication where such counsel did not understand for what purpose the interrogatories served by a private person were intended, nor that no further notice thereof would be given.</p>