Florida Motion to Compel Discovery

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Florida gives the same failure two different vehicles, and the difference is a step in the case. Rule 1.380(a), captioned Motion for Order Compelling Discovery, is what you file when a response exists and you say it is not good enough; rule 1.380(a)(3) treats an evasive or incomplete answer as a failure to answer, so an answer on paper is still reachable. Rule 1.380(e) is what applies when a party simply did not serve answers or objections to rule 1.340 interrogatories, did not serve a written response to a rule 1.350 request, or did not appear at its own deposition. On that track the court may go straight to the heavier orders without first entering an order compelling anything.

2. 2

   The letters moved on January 1, 2025 and the old ones are still in circulation. A new 1.380(d) preclusion sanction was inserted that year, and inserting it pushed the total-failure provision from (d) down to (e) and the electronically stored information provision from (e) down to (f). So a brief, a form or an article citing Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.380(d) for a failure to serve answers to interrogatories is now citing the wrong subdivision, and 1.380(d) today is about failing to disclose or supplement. Check the letter against a current compilation before you file, because the rules are promulgated by the Supreme Court of Florida and published as a dated compilation by The Florida Bar rather than on a state website.

3. 3

   Rule 1.380(a)(2) is drafted device by device, so cite the letter that matches what you served. (A) is a failure to make a rule 1.280(a) initial discovery disclosure. (B) is an unanswered deposition question or an unanswered rule 1.340 interrogatory. (C) is an entity that failed to make a designation under rule 1.310(b)(6) or 1.320(a). (D) is a party that failed to respond that a rule 1.350 inspection would be permitted or failed to permit it. (E) is a party that objected to, failed to respond about, failed to submit to, or failed to produce a person for a rule 1.360 examination. (F) is a failure to produce documents and things under rule 1.350(b). Requests for admission are not on the list at all.

4. 4

   The expense award is mandatory in both directions and the verb is the restyled must. Rule 1.380(a)(4)(A) provides that if the motion is granted, and after opportunity for hearing, the court must require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, or the party or counsel advising the conduct, to pay the reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the order, which may include attorneys' fees. Rule 1.380(a)(4)(B) provides that if the motion is denied, and after opportunity for hearing, the court must require the moving party to pay the expenses of opposing it. Read the two limbs side by side: the grant limb reaches counsel as well as the party, while the denial limb names only the moving party.

5. 5

   Florida's list of escapes is shorter than the federal one, which matters because there is less to argue about. Each limb of 1.380(a)(4) gives exactly two: that the opposition to the motion, or the making of it, was substantially justified, or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. The federal rule adds a third exception for a motion filed before attempting in good faith to obtain the discovery, and Florida omits it. That omission is consistent, because no Florida statewide rule requires you to try to resolve a discovery dispute before filing, and the phrase meet and confer does not appear in the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure at all. Individual circuits set their own practice by administrative order, so check yours.

6. 6

   Rule 1.380's own Committee Notes will mislead you if you navigate by them. The 2005 note still says that language is included in subdivision (a)(2) requiring litigants to seek to resolve discovery disputes by informal means before filing, and that subdivision (d) requires a discovering party to attempt to obtain responses first. That language is not in the current rule: (a)(2) was rewritten into the device-by-device list, (a)(4) carries no conferral escape, and the subdivision the note calls (d) is now (e). The 2012 and 2019 notes are mis-lettered the other way, describing subdivision (e) when they mean today's (f). Work from the operative text and treat the notes as history.

7. 7

   Count the clock before anything, because Florida runs two triggers in one sentence. Rule 1.340(a)(9) requires interrogatory answers and objections within 30 days after service of the interrogatories, except that a defendant may serve them within 45 days after service of the process and initial pleading, and rule 1.350(b)(3) sets the same pair for a production response. Because interrogatories may be served on a defendant with the summons and complaint, a plaintiff who counts 30 days from the day it served discovery with the complaint has moved too early. Rule 1.380 itself sets no deadline for bringing the motion and no waiver for delay. The waiver in these rules runs the other way: rule 1.340(a)(8) waives any ground for objecting that was not stated in a timely objection, unless the court for good cause excuses the failure.

Florida Requirements for Motion to Compel

• Which Track You Are On, Rule 1.380(a)(2) or Rule 1.380(e)

  Settle this first, because the tracks are different vehicles rather than two routes to one remedy. A response that arrived and is inadequate, evasive or objected to goes to a motion to compel under rule 1.380(a)(2), with rule 1.380(a)(3) treating an evasive or incomplete answer as a failure to answer. Total silence on rule 1.340 interrogatories, a rule 1.350 request, or a properly noticed deposition of the party goes to rule 1.380(e), where the court may take any action authorized under rule 1.380(b)(2)(A) to (b)(2)(C) without any prior order compelling discovery, and where rule 1.380(e)(3) bars the excuse that the discovery was objectionable unless the silent party applied for a protective order.

• The Subdivision Letter, Checked Against a Current Compilation

  The letters in rule 1.380 shifted effective 1-1-25 when a new subdivision (d) was inserted: the total-failure provision moved from (d) to (e) and the electronically stored information provision moved from (e) to (f). A citation to rule 1.380(d) for a failure to serve answers to interrogatories now lands on the preclusion sanction instead. Within 1.380(a)(2), match the sub-letter to your device: (A) initial disclosure, (B) deposition answer or interrogatory, (C) entity designation, (D) rule 1.350 inspection, (E) rule 1.360 examination, (F) documents and things. Florida's rules are promulgated by the Supreme Court of Florida and published as a dated compilation by The Florida Bar, so verify the letter in a current edition.

• The Two Possible Due Dates, and Which One Applies

  Rule 1.340(a)(9) requires interrogatory answers and any objections within 30 days after service of the interrogatories, except that a defendant may serve them within 45 days after service of the process and initial pleading on that defendant, and rule 1.350(b)(3) sets the same pair for a production response. Because rule 1.340(a)(2) allows interrogatories to be served on a party with or after service of the process and initial pleading, discovery served with the summons and complaint runs on the 45 day date. Neither clock has a party-stipulation mechanism; only the court may allow a shorter or longer time. Compute both dates and state the computation in the motion.

• Each Item Identified by Number, With What Came Back

  List each interrogatory or request by number and set out the response, or the absence of one, against it. Rule 1.380(a)(3) is the provision to quote where an answer exists but does not answer: an evasive or incomplete answer is treated as a failure to answer. Where the objection is the problem, rule 1.340(a)(8) helps you, because the grounds for objecting to an interrogatory must be stated with specificity including the reasons, and any ground not stated in a timely objection is waived unless the court for good cause excuses the failure.

• The Discovery As Served, Attached With Its Certificate of Service

  No statewide Florida rule requires a separate statement, an itemized statement or a certificate to accompany a motion to compel, so what the court has is what you attach. Attach the interrogatories or request as served, the certificate of service the 30 or 45 day clock is measured from, and whatever response came back. Keep an eye on the caps while you do it: rule 1.340(a)(3) limits interrogatories to 30 including all subparts without leave for good cause, rule 1.340(a)(4) requires the initial interrogatories on a subject covered by a supreme-court-approved form to come from that form, and rule 1.340(a)(6) counts any added interrogatories against the same 30.

• Reasonable Notice, and a Reserved Hearing for the Expense Request

  Rule 1.380(a) requires the application to be made on reasonable notice to other parties and all persons affected. Rule 1.380(a)(4) then conditions the expense award in both directions on an opportunity for hearing, which the federal rule does not require, so the money question is a separate hearing-dependent step rather than something resolved on the papers. Note the risk on the other side of the same hearing: rule 1.380(a)(2)(H) provides that if the court denies the motion in whole or in part it may make the protective order it could have made on a rule 1.280(d) motion.

• The Expense Request Under Rule 1.380(a)(4)(A), and Your Exposure Under (B)

  Rule 1.380(a)(4)(A) provides that if the motion is granted, and after opportunity for hearing, the court must require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, or the party or counsel advising the conduct, to pay the reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the order, which may include attorneys' fees, unless the opposition was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award unjust. The verb is must, so ask for the expenses. Then read (B): if the motion is denied the court must require the moving party to pay the expenses of opposing it, on the same two escapes. Florida gives only those two, having omitted the federal exception for a motion filed before a good faith attempt. Rule 1.380(a)(4)(C) apportions on a split result.

• Whether a Rule 1.280(a) Initial Disclosure Is the Real Gap

  Check this before serving more discovery. Rule 1.280(a)(1) requires a party, without awaiting a discovery request, to provide witness identifications, a copy or a description by category and location of the documents and electronically stored information it may use to support its claims or defenses, a damages computation with supporting materials, and any applicable insurance policy, within 60 days after service of the complaint or joinder under rule 1.280(a)(3). Actions and claims listed in rule 1.200(a) are exempt. Rule 1.380(a)(2)(A) makes the obligation compellable, and rule 1.380(d) supplies an alternative that is often stronger than an order: the non-disclosing party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.