Discovery is part of a lawsuit in which the parties inquire and produce information related to the case. This information may be statements, responses and/or document requests. Discovery is important particularly in building your case and gathering information that will be used at trial. All parties are entitled to know what evidence is going to be presented in a trial by the opposing party. Because discovery can be arduous, it promotes settlements and discourages litigation especially in dense and complex matters. 

You are not entitled to any information you want through the discovery process. Only relevant information may be sought in discovery requests. Should you request information wholly unrelated to the case, the opposing party may deny your request based on its irrelevancy. 

Attorneys and their staff send out discovery requests after evaluating what questions, responses and/or documents they will need for your case. Typically, discovery requests are sent to the opposing party’s attorney. Discovery responses are due 30 days after the requests are made. However, if you send or receive discovery requests before filing an answer, you have 50 days, rather than the 30 days, to answer the requests.

Interrogatories must be answered to the best of your ability. However, you are allowed to object to certain interrogatories if there is a valid basis for the objection. These answers are sworn and must be accompanied by a verification page that is notarized. This ensures that each party is answering each interrogatory to the best of his/her knowledge.

Because the discovery process is mandatory, if you do not participate, the court can impose sanctions on you which include a contempt of court charge, a fine, an order requiring you to pay the opposing party’s attorney’s fees or dismissing the suit completely. Additionally, if you answer more than 30 days after receiving the discovery requests, your objections are waived and admissions are automatically admitted. Accordingly, it is extremely important to participate and comply with all the rules of discovery. 

If you cannot find all of the documents requested, you must still provide what you are able to find along with a description of your efforts to locate the missing documents.

Requests for admissions are statements in which you are being asked to either admit or deny facts that are relevant to your case. 

Requests for disclosure are basic questions such as your name, theories you are basing your case around, names and phone numbers of potential witnesses or third parties, etc. 

Requests for production and inspection are requests for you to produce documents like tax returns, bank statements, emails, text messages, letters, etc. These documents are requested in order to prepare the case for trial. Today, many attorneys use electronic means of producing and reviewing discovery such as using Dropbox or the “cloud” to upload and download files. This method has made document production much more efficient than the old fashioned method of sticking documents in boxes and delivering them to an attorney’s office to be inspected. 

Interrogatories are, in most cases, 25 questions submitted to the opposing party. When answering interrogatories, your answers are to be taken as answers under oath.

Depositions are interviews that can be done orally or in writing. Depositions are an opportunity for parties in a lawsuit to obtain testimony from a witness under oath before trial. If you are asked a question in a deposition and then again at trial, your answer should be the same as statements made during a deposition may be used against you at trial. 

A subpoena is a court order to appear and potentially testify or produce documents in a lawsuit. Should the individual served with a subpoena not comply, he or she could face a contempt of court charge. Subpoenas are typically served during the discovery process of a lawsuit.