Brown

The issue in this mandate proceeding is whether a civil defendant may waive his right to assert the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination by failing to raise it as an objection to interrogatories within the 30-day period prescribed by section 2030 of the Code of Civil Procedure. As this opinion reflects, we have concluded that defendants waived their privilege.

Petitioner Dustin Brown (plaintiff) is suing real parties in interest William Boorstin, Henry Steven Boorstin, Henry Boorstin, Sr., and Donna Boorstin (defendants) for assault and battery and for conspiracy to murder him. At the time the petition was filed, defendant William Boorstin was concurrently facing criminal charges of attempted murder arising from the same incident.

On January 11, 1985, plaintiff served written interrogatories on defendants. While many of the questions were innocuous, others potentially required self-incrimination on such issues as the defendants’ whereabouts, activities, vehicle ownership, and weapon ownership on the date of the incident.

Having received no response to the interrogatories, plaintiff moved to compel answers. The motion was argued before and granted by…