Discovery Tools
This tool is used to pin parties down on a fact not admitted in their answer, but revealed to be true in discovery.
What is a request for admission?
This rule governs general limits on discovery in civil cases.
What is Rule 26(b)?
Answering the interrogatory may hurt your case, but you can't refuse to respond unless one the question asks you to reveal something protected by one of these.
What is a privilege?
This type of expert must produce a report.
What is your initial disclosures?
You might use this to craft the remainder of your discovery plan; after all, it gives you key information about who might be helpful to the opposing party's side.
What is Rule 26(a)(1) Initial Disclosures?
If you want discovery in a civil case, it better be these three things, or it will be outside the scope.
What is relevance, proportionality, and non-privileged?
Conversations with your doctor may be protected under the doctor-patient privilege, but this other piece of evidence may not, depending on your litigation position.
What are medical records?
What is Rule 26(a)(1)?
Meredith Grey, Benjamin Button, and Olivia Benson.
What are the names of Taylor Swift's cats?
Watch out! If you take too long to ask your questions, you might get cut off from this frequently used discovery tool, and not get to the questions you really want answered.
What are depositions? (Typically limited to 7 hours)
A court might consider the importance of the issues at stake, the amount in controversy, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issue, the relative access of the parties to the info, and the burden or expense as compared to its likely benefit, in deciding whether a discovery request meets this standard.
What is proportionality?
If you want to withhold a document based on privilege, you must do this under Rule 26(b)(5).
What is specifically claim the privilege and describe the nature of the communication in a manner that will enable parties to assess the claim?
An astrophysicist who observed the scene of an automobile accident would be this type of witness in the case.
4 and 1 (but the 1 was to the #2 ranked team).
What is the current record of the Michigan Wolverines football team?
Have something you want to know from a person outside the law suit? This tool might help you.
What is a Rule 45 subpoena?
This rule governs situations where the court may limit your access to discovery if, on motion or on its own, it determines the discovery sought is cumulative/duplicative, could have been obtained by the party requesting it, or is outside the scope of Rule 26(b)(1).
What is Rule 26(b)(2)(C)?
This phrase and rule govern the situation where you accidentally produce a privileged document and need to get it back.
What is clawback under Rule 26(b)(5)(B)?
If you want your non-retained expert to testify, you'll have to provide this in advance.
What is a short summary of facts and opinions upon which the expert is expected to testify?
In most cases, if you seek discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference, you will be in violation of this rule.
What is Rule 26(d)(1)?
If you want a retained expert to conduct an analysis and testify in your case, you'll have to follow this rule.
What is Rule 26(a)(2)(B)?
You probably want this, but you won't be able to get it unless you can show you have a substantial need and cannot, without undue hardship, obtain the substantial equivalent by other means.
What is work product?
A party may file this type of motion if it believes that a document was improperly withheld based on a claimed privilege.
What is a motion to compel production?
If your expert receives additional data after providing their initial expert report, and updates their analysis, they will have to follow this rule, and provide a supplemental report.
What is Rule 26(e)(2)?
If a response to an interrogatory can be determined by examining/auditing/abstracting a party's business records, this party can do this rather than answering specifically.
What is specify the records that must be reviewed in sufficient detail and giving the interrogating party a reasonable opportunity to reexamine the records? R. 33(d)