Oklahoma § 12-3234 - Production of documents and things and entry upon land

§ 12-3234. Production of documents and things and entry upon land

for inspection and other purposes.

A. IN GENERAL. A party may serve on any other party a request

within the scope of Section 3226 of this title:

1. To produce and permit the requesting party or its

representative to inspect, copy, test or sample the following items

in the possession, custody or control of the responding party:

a.

any designated documents or electronically stored

information - including writings, drawings, graphs,

charts, photographs, sound recordings, images and

other data or data compilations – stored in any medium

from which information can be obtained either directly

or, if necessary, after translation by the responding

party into a reasonably usable form, or

b.

any designated tangible things; or

2. To permit entry onto designated land or other property

possessed or controlled by the responding party so that the

requesting party may inspect, measure, survey, photograph, test or

sample the property or any designated object or operation on it.

B. PROCEDURE. 1. The request:

a.

shall describe with reasonable particularity each item

or category of items to be inspected,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 12. Civil Procedure

b.

c.

2.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

shall specify a reasonable time, place and manner for

the inspection and for performing the related acts,

and

may specify the form or forms in which electronically

stored information is to be produced.

The request may be served, without leave of court,

upon any party after the filing of a petition. The

party to whom the request is directed shall respond in

writing within thirty (30) days after being served.

The thirty-day response period shall not commence

until an answer to the petition is filed. However,

upon leave of court or otherwise agreed to in writing

by the parties subject to Section 3229 of this title,

the response to the request may be required prior to

the filing of an answer to the petition.

For each item or category, the response shall either

state that inspection and related activities will be

permitted as requested or state with specificity the

grounds for objecting to the request, including the

reasons. The responding party may state that it will

produce copies of documents or of electronically

stored information instead of permitting inspection.

The production shall be completed no later than the

time for inspection specified in the request, or

another reasonable time specified in the response.

An objection shall state whether any responsive

materials are being withheld on the basis of that

objection. An objection to part of a request shall

specify the part and permit inspection of the rest.

The response may state an objection to a requested

form for producing electronically stored information.

If the responding party objects to a requested form,

or if no form was specified in the request, the party

shall state the form or forms it intends to use.

Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court,

these procedures apply to producing documents or

electronically stored information:

(1) a party shall produce documents as they are kept

in the usual course of business or shall organize

and label them to correspond to the categories in

the request,

(2) if a request does not specify a form for

producing electronically stored information, a

party shall produce it in a form or forms in

which it is ordinarily maintained or in a

reasonably usable form or forms, and

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 12. Civil Procedure

(3)

a party need not produce the same electronically

stored information in more than one form.

C. NONPARTIES. A nonparty may be compelled to produce

documents and tangible things or to permit an inspection as provided

in Section 2004.1 of this title.

Added by Laws 1982, c. 198, § 11. Amended by Laws 1989, c. 129, §

10, eff. Nov. 1, 1989. Renumbered from § 3211 of this title by Laws

1989, c. 129, § 14, eff. Nov. 1, 1989. Amended by Laws 1993, c.

351, § 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 2008, c. 394, § 1, eff. Nov. 1,

2008; Laws 2010, c. 50, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 2010; Laws 2017, c. 378, §

4, eff. Nov. 1, 2017; Laws 2018, c. 313, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2019.

NOTE: Laws 2017, c. 389, § 6 repealed by Laws 2018, c. 313, § 4,

eff. Jan. 1, 2019.