Wetherbee v. Winchester
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract by the administrator of the estate of Milton Lane, deceased, for the balance of a mutual account between the defendant and Lane.
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Contract by the administrator of the estate of Milton Lane, deceased, for the balance of a mutual account between the defendant and Lane. In the Superior Court, on May 21, 1878, the plaintiff filed interrogatories to the defendant, under the Gen. Sts. o. 129, § 46, one of which was as follows: “ State whether or not you have an account with the plaintiff’s intestate upon your books; and, if so, state what balance, if any, is shown due to the plaintiff’s intestate by your book account, and annex a copy of said account to "your answer to this interrogatory.” To this interrogatory the defendant…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, C. J.
Under the Gen. Sts. c. 129, § 46, a defendant is bound to answer interrogatories as to such matters only as tend to support the plaintiff’s claim, and not as to matters which relate exclusively to his own defence. Wilson v. Webber, 2 Gray, 558. Sheren v. Lowell, 104 Mass. 24. Baker v. Carpenter, 127 Mass. 226. If he neglects or refuses to answer a proper interrogatory, he may be defaulted. Gen. Sts. c. 129, § 56. But if matters which he is not, as well as matters which he is, bound to answer, are embraced in a single interrogatory, he is not required to take the risk of separating the two;…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Baker v. CarpenterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1879
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