Injury Case Discovery and How It Affects Your Case

by: Robert Slaughter

What does it mean when your case is in Discovery? 

In a lawsuit, what is this “discovery” you may have heard about? Discovery is a critical part of civil litigation, including personal injury lawsuits. Discovery is basically the legally required pretrial sharing of information between the lawsuit parties. Civil trials are not “by ambush.” Through discovery, a party, before trial, can learn virtually the other party’s entire case. 

At Slaughter & Lupton, we strive to use discovery to help us obtain the recovery our personal injury client deserves and, at the same time, ease the discovery burden on our client as much as possible.   

What do I do when my case is in Discovery? 

If you’re our personal injury client, to what extent will you need to be concerned about discovery? Not at all concerned in a majority of our cases, which are settled favorably without a lawsuit. If we must file a lawsuit to obtain a fair recovery, we’ll need your input in the discovery process, but we’ll be with you every step of the way, minimizing your concern.  

Types of Discoveries 

The scope of discovery is broad. It’s allowed on anything relevant to the case except privileged information, such as communication between you and us. The information sought in discovery does not need to be admissible into evidence at trial as long as the information reasonably could lead to finding admissible evidence.  

Discovery comes in various forms: 

• Interrogatories

  Typically, the first form involving you are interrogatories. Those are questions the insurance company lawyer sends us for you to answer under oath. While the answers must be yours, we’ll prepare them based on the truthful information you give us. If we feel a question is improper, we can refuse to submit an answer unless compelled to do so by a judge.  

• Production of Documents

  Usually, with the interrogatories, we receive another form of discovery called a request for production of documents, often requiring your help in obtaining medical records and other documents.  

• Deposition

  Next generally comes your deposition—oral questioning of you by the insurance lawyer. We will prepare you thoroughly for this, minimizing the stress and making it, not something for you to dread, but an opportunity for the insurance company to see what a strong case you have. The questions usually cover many topics, including your background, the facts of the wreck, your injuries and medical treatment, your medical history, your pain and limitations resulting from your injuries, any earnings you lost as a result of the wreck, and the impact of the wreck on your life. At the deposition, we will sit with you and protect you from improper questions and abusive questioning.  

• Under some circumstances, the insurance company will request, and be allowed under the discovery law, to have a doctor examine you about your injuries from the wreck. This is referred to as an “independent medical examination” but often is done by a doctor who is, rather than independent, hired and paid by the insurance companies. We’ll help you through that process.  

• Admissions

  Insurance lawyers sometimes send us requests for admission. That would require us to admit things we cannot—in good faith—deny. If we receive a request for admission in your case, we’ll handle it and get your input when appropriate. 

How Slaughter & Lupton Law Makes Discovery Easier for You 

Discovery is not a one-way street. We send interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and requests for admissions to the other side and take depositions, not just to get information, but more importantly to 

• find evidence that helps us get a favorable settlement or high jury verdict for you 

• find weaknesses, holes, inconsistencies, and lies in the other side’s case 

• make the other side formally admit favorable facts  

• show the insurance company why it should pay a big settlement  

• plan a winning trial strategy  

In short, discovery is an important tool we use in our fight to get you the best result possible!  

Our Team Handles the Legal Heavy Lifting 

Each step of an injury case, including discovery, are not meant to be done alone. Having someone by your side with years of experience in personal injury cases can minimize your stress in an already stressful situation. 

The Slaughter & Lupton Law team has decades of experience in maximizing our clients’ case value. We carry the weight of your injury case – examining the evidence and building a powerful case, so you can focus on recovery. 

Consult our attorneys for legal advice on your injury case. Call us for your free case evaluation today at (757) 999-1111 or fill out our contact form below. 

Robert Slaughter is a personal injury attorney and partner at Slaughter & Lupton Law, PLLC. Slaughter has over four decades of courtroom experience as a trial lawyer. He has built a successful private practice in North Carolina, handled 100+ trials, and has made countless other court appearances across Virginia and North Carolina. Learn more about Robert Slaughter on his Attorney Page.