When you're badly injured, the last thing you want to think about is filling out paperwork, searching for an attorney, or trying to gather evidence. Yet, these steps are necessary if you want to collect the compensation you deserve due to someone else's negligence. The more you know about personal injury cases and hiring an attorney, the less stressful this time will be.
We've created this website to offer basic personal injury law advice for anyone who has been injured or who may become injured in the future. Keep in mind that if you've been injured in a car accident, due to medical neglect, or even by slipping in someone else's parking lot, your case qualifies a personal injury case — and thus you'll find our collection of articles relevant.
Accidents happen all the time -- and many of them are avoidable with a little extra care. If you've been injured due to another person's negligence, you have every right to ask them (or their insurance company) to cover your losses and compensate you fairly.
When an insurance company balks at paying a fair amount, however, you may have to file a personal injury claim in court. Before you can get to a trial (or a pretrial settlement), however, you have to go through a process known as "discovery." Here's what you need to know about that process.
What is the discovery process about?
There are never supposed to be any "Perry Mason moments" in a civil court case. By the time a case can go to trial, both sides are supposed to have the information that they need to possibly come together and make an agreement.
Discovery is designed to draw out all of the important information in a case so that both sides can fully assess their position -- including a claim's strengths and weaknesses.
How is the discovery process accomplished?
Your personal injury attorney will use several different legal tools at his or her disposal to elicit information from the other side -- and the other side will do the same to you. Some things you may expect include:
- Interrogatories -- These are a series of written questions that have to be replied to in writing, under oath.
- Depositions -- These are in-person interviews about facts important to the case, given under oath, by the opposing attorney. Depositions can be taken from witnesses as well as the victim and defendant.
- Requests for Production -- These are formal document requests, and quite commonly include all electronic records that might be relevant to the case.
In some ways, these are all "fishing expeditions" that can help either the defense or the plaintiff's case as new facts are uncovered.
What sort of information can't be demanded during the discovery process?
Some information, no matter how dearly the other side wants it, isn't subject to discovery. That includes confidential information that has no relevance to your case, like medical information that's unrelated to your injuries, communications with your religious leaders, and private things you have shared with your spouse. Part of your attorney's job is to make sure that the questions you are asked aren't unreasonably intrusive.
Getting through all of the steps of an accident claim can be difficult, which is why it's usually best to have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side.