California Rules of Court Rule 3.1345: Separate Statement

A separate statement is the standalone document California Rule of Court 3.1345 requires you to file alongside most discovery motions, and it drives the outcome of the motion more often than the memorandum does. It sets out, request by request, the exact discovery at issue, the exact response given, and the reasons a further response is warranted, so the judge can rule on the dispute without pulling anything else from the file. Courts routinely deny discovery motions when the separate statement is missing, incomplete, or built by cross-reference to other documents.¹

Which Discovery Motions Need a Separate Statement

Rule 3.1345(a) attaches the requirement to seven categories of motion. All of them share one feature: you are arguing about the content of a specific request or the adequacy of a specific response.

Motions to compel further responses to requests for admission.
Motions to compel further responses to interrogatories.
Motions to compel further responses to document demands or inspection demands.
Motions to compel answers at a deposition when a witness refused to answer.
Motions to compel or to quash production of documents at a deposition.
Motions for a court-ordered medical examination over the other side’s objection.
Motions for issue or evidentiary sanctions.¹

When You Can Skip It

Rule 3.1345(b) recognizes two situations where no separate statement is needed. The first is the one litigants most often miss.

If the other side served no response at all, a motion to compel an initial response does not require a separate statement. There is nothing to compare. A motion to compel a further response, where an answer was served but is evasive, incomplete, or hides behind objections, always requires one. The distinction between “no response” and “bad response” controls whether the requirement applies.

The second exception is discretionary. A judge may allow you to file a concise outline of the disputed requests and responses in place of the full separate statement. Several discovery statutes authorize that alternative, but you need the court’s permission before relying on it.¹

What the Separate Statement Must Contain

Rule 3.1345(c) sets the standard bluntly: the document must be “full and complete so that no person is required to review any other document in order to determine the full request and the full response.” Incorporation by reference is not allowed. If the judge cannot resolve the dispute by reading the separate statement alone, it fails the rule.¹

For each disputed item, include:

The full text of the request, interrogatory, demand, or deposition question, copied word for word.
The full text of each response, including every objection and any supplemental response.
The factual and legal reasons a further response should be ordered, spelled out for that specific request.
Any definitions or instructions from the discovery set that are necessary to make sense of the request or the response.
Any related request and its response when one item depends on or refers to another.
A summary of any pleading, discovery, or other document you rely on to support the motion. Summarize it in the separate statement itself rather than pointing the reader elsewhere.¹

The format forces the court and both sides to look at each disputed item on its own terms. A motion that challenges twenty interrogatories needs twenty individually reasoned sections in the separate statement. None of them can rest on a general argument buried in the memorandum.

Identify Each Request by Set and Number

Rule 3.1345(d) adds a small requirement that is easy to overlook. Any motion involving interrogatories, document demands, or requests for admission must identify each disputed item by its set number and individual request number. “Special Interrogatory No. 12 from Set Two” is the level of specificity the rule expects. Vague references to “the interrogatories about damages” do not comply.¹

How the Separate Statement Fits With the Rest of the Motion

The separate statement does not stand alone. Three other pieces determine whether the motion is even properly before the court.

Meet and Confer First

Code of Civil Procedure section 2016.040 requires a declaration showing a reasonable and good-faith effort to resolve the dispute informally before filing. That effort can happen in person, by phone, or by videoconference, and the declaration must also address whether the parties discussed hiring a court reporter for the hearing.² A single hostile email does not read like a meet-and-confer, and judges notice.

The 45-Day and 60-Day Deadlines

For motions to compel further responses to interrogatories, document demands, or requests for admission, you have 45 days from service of the verified response, or of any supplemental verified response, to file and serve the motion. Miss the 45 days and the right to compel is waived. The parties can extend the deadline in writing, but without that written agreement the cutoff is absolute.³

Motions to compel answers refused at a deposition run on a 60-day clock from completion of the deposition transcript. Discovery motions generally must also be heard at least 15 days before the initial trial date, so a perfectly drafted separate statement is worthless if the hearing calendar has already run out.

A Memorandum of Points and Authorities

Rule 3.1113 requires a memorandum of points and authorities with the motion, containing a statement of facts, the applicable law, and the arguments. A motion filed without one may be treated as unworthy of consideration. On discovery motions, opening and opposing memoranda are capped at 15 pages and reply memoranda at 10.⁴

What Happens if the Separate Statement Falls Short

A defective or missing separate statement is one of the most common reasons discovery motions get denied in California, and denial is not the only exposure. Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030 authorizes monetary sanctions against a party or attorney who misuses the discovery process, covering the other side’s reasonable expenses and attorney fees. Monetary sanctions are the routine outcome, and they can be imposed on the losing side of any discovery motion, including the party who brought a motion that failed.⁵

On motions to compel further responses to requests for admission, monetary sanctions against the losing party are mandatory unless the court finds substantial justification or other circumstances that would make the award unjust.⁶ Sanctions can also be awarded when the opposing party never filed opposition or produced the requested discovery only after the motion was filed. The other side capping late does not automatically wipe out your costs of bringing the motion, and the reverse is equally true: an inadequate separate statement can leave you paying for a motion you thought you were going to win.

1
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1345 – Format of Discovery Motions
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.040
3
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 2031.310
4
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1113 – Memorandum
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 2023.030
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2033.290