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During the effort to reach an agreement between 2 parties that are involved in a personal injury dispute, the discovery phase plays a key role. That pre-trial process provides each party with time for sharing its collected evidence with the opposing side.
Purpose of discovery phase
It is supposed to make sure that no side’s body of evidence suffers from the existence of a “hole,” when the trial has begun. In that way, the shared evidence should help to level the playing field.
What is nature of the allowed evidentiary material during that pre-trial session?
It should be something that could lead to discovery of admissible evidence and it cannot be some sort of privileged information.
Principle aspects of a discovery session
Interrogations: These are written questions that the lawyer for one party sends to the opposing party. The person that has received the questions is expected to answer each of them.
Requests for production: The word “production” is a legal term. It refers to one or more documents.
Requests for admission: The person that has received the request is expected to admit to the veracity of certain facts. That admission should be made under oath.
Depositions: Periods when the attorney for each party has a chance to question one or more selected witnesses.
How do the lawyers questioning the various witnesses make use of the offered testimony?
Any answer to a question posed by an attorney gets compared to the similar information, which had been provided by the same witness, at an earlier point in the lawsuit process. Any inconsistency would provide one side’s lawyer with a reason for demanding an explanation for the observed inconsistencies.
That fact helps to explain the warning given to a personal injury lawyer’s various client. Typically, each client is told not to provide the insurance company with a taped statement.
Personal Injury Lawyer in Hamilton knows that evidence of inconsistencies could help an attorney to develop a trial strategy. The attorney for each side understands that those that have testified during a discovery session must furnish testimony again, during the trial.
The plaintiff and defendant’s lawyers would study the mannerisms and unspoken messages of their client, while responding to each of the posed questions. In that way, each of the same lawyers should be able to determine how a given client would act, if placed on the witness stand during a trial.
If a defendant were to appear nervous, while responding to the inquiries from a given lawyer, then the chances would dim for any decision to put that same client/defendant on the witness stand. Of course, a judge would never allow any defendant to get pressured to testify, if he or she had no desire to do so.