DISCOVERY DEFICIENCY MEET-AND-CONFER LETTER

Alaska State Court — Pursuant to Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1)

[ATTORNEY/FIRM NAME]
[________________________________]
[________________________________]
[City, State, ZIP]
Phone: [____________________]
Fax: [____________________]
Email: [________________________________]
Alaska Bar No.: [____________________]

[__/__/____]

VIA [☐ EMAIL ☐ CERTIFIED MAIL ☐ HAND DELIVERY ☐ OVERNIGHT COURIER]

[________________________________]
[Opposing Counsel Name]
[________________________________]
[Law Firm Name]
[________________________________]
[Address Line 1]
[________________________________]
[City, State, ZIP]

Re: [________________________________] v. [________________________________]
Court: [________________________________], Case No. [________________________________]
Subject: Discovery Deficiency Meet-and-Confer — [☐ Interrogatories ☐ Requests for Production ☐ Requests for Admission ☐ All Discovery Responses]

Dear [________________________________]:

I. PURPOSE OF THIS LETTER

This letter is written pursuant to Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(1), which requires that any motion to compel discovery must include a certification that the movant "has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the person or party failing to make disclosure or discovery in an effort to obtain it without court action." This letter constitutes our formal good-faith effort to resolve the discovery deficiencies described herein without court intervention.

We write on behalf of our client, [________________________________] ("[Plaintiff/Defendant]"), regarding deficiencies in [________________________________]'s ("[Responding Party]") discovery responses served on [__/__/____].

Specifically, the following discovery was served and responses received:

The responses received are deficient in the respects described below. We request that [Responding Party] serve supplemental responses curing all deficiencies identified herein no later than [__/__/____].

II. ALASKA DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK — KEY RULES

A. Response Deadlines

• Interrogatories: 30 days after service (Alaska R. Civ. P. 33(b)(2)); an additional 3 days if served by mail within Alaska (Alaska R. Civ. P. 6(e))
• Requests for Production: 30 days after service (Alaska R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2))
• Requests for Admission: 30 days after service (Alaska R. Civ. P. 36(a))

B. Interrogatory Limits

Alaska R. Civ. P. 33(a) limits each party to 40 interrogatories, including discrete subparts, without leave of court. Leave is required for additional interrogatories.

C. Scope of Discovery

Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) permits discovery of "any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action." Alaska courts apply a broad relevance standard at the discovery stage.

D. Verification Requirement

All interrogatory answers must be signed and verified under oath by the party (Alaska R. Civ. P. 33(b)(1)). Unverified interrogatory responses are not proper responses under the Alaska Rules.

E. Privilege Log

When a party withholds discoverable information on the basis of privilege, the party must expressly make the claim and describe the nature of the withheld documents in a manner sufficient to enable other parties to assess the claim (Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)).

F. Meet-and-Confer Requirement

Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) requires a good-faith conference or attempt to confer before filing a motion to compel. This letter satisfies that requirement. Counsel must be available to confer by telephone or in person.

G. Sanctions for Discovery Violations

Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5): If a motion to compel is granted, the court shall require the party whose conduct necessitated the motion to pay the movant's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, unless the opposing party's noncompliance was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award unjust.

Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2): For failure to comply with a court's discovery order, sanctions may include:
- Striking pleadings
- Prohibiting the disobedient party from introducing designated evidence
- Rendering a default judgment against the disobedient party
- Treating the failure as contempt of court

III. INTERROGATORY DEFICIENCIES

The following Interrogatory responses are deficient. For each deficiency identified, please provide a complete, verified, rule-compliant supplemental response.

Deficiency Checklist — Interrogatories

☐ Incomplete Answer — The response does not fully answer the question asked and omits material information within the responding party's knowledge, possession, or control.

☐ Improper Objection — Relevance — A bare relevance objection is insufficient; under Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1), relevance at the discovery stage is broad. Please withdraw this objection or explain specifically how the interrogatory exceeds the permissible scope.

☐ Improper Objection — Overbreadth/Undue Burden — This objection is not supported by any specific showing of burden or overbreadth. Please identify what portion, if any, you contend is proper and answer to that extent.

☐ Improper Objection — Vague/Ambiguous — The interrogatory is sufficiently clear. Please respond based on the reasonable, good-faith interpretation of the question.

☐ No Verification — The interrogatory responses are not signed under oath by the responding party as required by Alaska R. Civ. P. 33(b)(1). Please provide a proper verification.

☐ Incomplete Response Subject to Supplementation — Responding party stated it would supplement but has not done so. Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(e) requires prompt supplementation.

☐ Boilerplate Objections — Multiple boilerplate objections are asserted without explanation. Alaska courts disfavor rote objections unsupported by particularized justification.

Specific Interrogatory Deficiencies

IV. REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION DEFICIENCIES

The following Requests for Production responses are deficient.

Deficiency Checklist — Requests for Production

☐ Blanket Objections Without Response — Responding party has asserted blanket objections (e.g., overbreadth, undue burden, relevance) without producing any responsive documents or identifying what has been withheld. Alaska R. Civ. P. 34 requires a response stating whether responsive documents exist and will be produced.

☐ No Privilege Log — Documents appear to have been withheld on privilege grounds, but no privilege log has been provided as required by Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5). Please provide a log identifying each withheld document by date, author, recipient(s), general subject matter, and basis for privilege.

☐ Incomplete Production — Based on [________________________________], we have reason to believe that additional responsive documents exist that were not produced. Please confirm the completeness of the production or supplement with all remaining responsive documents.

☐ No Date Certain for Production — Responding party's response states documents will be produced but does not provide a date certain. Alaska R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(B) requires a response to state a reasonable time for production. Please confirm production will be complete by [__/__/____].

☐ Improper Format of Production — Documents were produced in a format that does not comply with Alaska R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(E). Please reproduce in [☐ native format ☐ reasonably usable form ☐ with metadata intact].

☐ No Statement of Inability to Comply — If responsive documents do not exist or cannot be located, responding party must so state specifically (Alaska R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(A)).

☐ Failure to Identify Documents by Request — Produced documents are not organized to correspond to the categories in the request as required by Alaska R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(E)(i).

Specific RFP Deficiencies

V. REQUEST FOR ADMISSION DEFICIENCIES

The following Requests for Admission responses are deficient.

Deficiency Checklist — Requests for Admission

☐ Evasive Denial — The response neither admits nor denies the matter in the manner required by Alaska R. Civ. P. 36(a). A denial must fairly respond to the substance of the matter.

☐ Improper Objection — The objection asserted does not provide a valid basis for avoiding a response. Please withdraw the objection or provide specific authority for the objection.

☐ Qualified Admission Without Explanation — A qualified response under Alaska R. Civ. P. 36(a) must "specify so much of it as is true and qualify or deny the remainder." The qualification provided is insufficient.

☐ Failure to Admit or Deny with Specificity — Responding party states it "lacks information sufficient to admit or deny" without the required statement that it has made a reasonable inquiry and that the information known or readily obtainable is insufficient.

☐ Late Response — Deemed Admitted — The requests were served on [__/__/____] and responses were due by [__/__/____]. As of the date of this letter, no timely response has been received, and the matters may be deemed admitted under Alaska R. Civ. P. 36(a).

Specific RFA Deficiencies

VI. PRIVILEGE LOG DEFICIENCIES

Pursuant to Alaska R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5), any document withheld on the basis of privilege must be identified in a privilege log containing the following information:

☐ Date of the document
☐ Author and all recipients (including cc and bcc)
☐ General subject matter (without revealing privileged content)
☐ Specific privilege asserted (attorney-client, work product, etc.)
☐ Whether any non-privileged portions can be produced in redacted form

Current status of privilege log: [________________________________]

Required action: Please provide a complete privilege log by [__/__/____] identifying all documents withheld on privilege grounds.

VII. DEMAND FOR SUPPLEMENTATION AND DEADLINE

We demand that [Responding Party] serve complete, verified, and rule-compliant supplemental responses to all deficiencies identified in this letter no later than:

SUPPLEMENTATION DEADLINE: [__/__/____]

If supplemental responses are not received by this date, we will proceed to file a Motion to Compel pursuant to Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a), accompanied by the required good-faith certification and a request for attorney's fees and costs incurred in preparing this correspondence and bringing the motion.

VIII. MEET-AND-CONFER AVAILABILITY

Notwithstanding the written demands set forth herein, we remain willing to meet and confer telephonically or in person to discuss these deficiencies in good faith and attempt to resolve them without court intervention, as contemplated by Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1).

We are available at the following times (Alaska Time):

• [________________________________] (Date/Time)
• [________________________________] (Date/Time)
• [________________________________] (Date/Time)

Please contact the undersigned by [__/__/____] to schedule a meet-and-confer conference. If we do not hear from you by that date, we will deem meet-and-confer efforts complete and proceed to file the appropriate motion.

IX. SANCTIONS WARNING

Be advised that Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5) provides that if a motion to compel is granted, the court shall award reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, to the moving party unless the responding party's conduct was substantially justified. Additionally, Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2) authorizes courts to impose severe sanctions—including evidentiary preclusion, striking of pleadings, and entry of default—for willful discovery noncompliance.

We do not seek motion practice or sanctions as a first resort. However, if [Responding Party] fails to respond meaningfully to this letter, we will have no choice but to seek judicial intervention and all available relief.

X. LITIGATION HOLD REMINDER

Please confirm that [Responding Party] has implemented and maintained a litigation hold covering all potentially relevant documents, electronically stored information (ESI), and tangible things related to this matter, including but not limited to: emails, text messages, instant messages, shared drives, cloud storage, and documents in the possession of third parties under the responding party's control. Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(e) addresses the consequences of failing to preserve ESI.

XI. CLOSING

Please treat this letter as our good-faith attempt to resolve these discovery disputes without court intervention. We anticipate your prompt response.

Sincerely,

[________________________________]
[Attorney Name]
[________________________________]
[Law Firm Name]
Counsel for [________________________________]
[Plaintiff/Defendant]

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on [__/__/____], a true and correct copy of the foregoing Discovery Deficiency Meet-and-Confer Letter was served upon the following counsel of record by the method indicated:

[________________________________]
[Opposing Counsel Name and Address]

☐ Email
☐ U.S. Mail, postage prepaid
☐ Hand Delivery
☐ Overnight Courier

[________________________________]
[Serving Attorney Name]

Sources and References:
- Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure — Alaska Court System: https://courts.alaska.gov/rules/docs/civ.pdf
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 33 (Interrogatories), 34 (Production), 36 (Admissions), 37 (Sanctions)
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) — Good Faith Certification Requirement