The term discovery is a broad term that is meant to encompass a lot of different aspects of a trial. Once we put a case into litigation, we file a summons of complaint. Next, an attorney for the defendant is engaged, and the attorney provides us with an answer in what we call discovery demands. This is the paper portion of our discovery. In those discovery demands, the attorney asks us questions pertaining to the plaintiff, to the injuries, and to the accident itself. We respond in what we call discovery responses and a verified bill of particulars. My firm then asks questions of the defendant regarding such details as knowledge of other witnesses or possession of photographs that we do not have.
The second portion of discovery process during a personal injury case is what we call oral discovery, which involves depositions. Depositions are conducted with attorneys asking questions of both individuals involved in the accident and witnesses to the accident. Finally, we rely on several other manners to acquire further examples we call discovery such as notices to admit and notices for production of documents. We utilize these additional documents in order to obtaining information regarding our case so that when we proceed to trial, we have a full complement of discovery paper and everything else necessary to prosecute the case successfully.