The opposing sides share their evidence during the discovery session. There are several parts to the discovery session.

The Deposition

That is when each lawyer has a chance to question selected witnesses. A recorder creates a record of what the witness has said under oath. Later, the personal injury lawyer in Kingston can study that record, in order to see if the statements made during the trial agree with those made during the deposition. A lack of consistency would introduce an element of doubt, regarding the veracity of the stated information.

Interrogatories

Those are a series of written questions that are presented to a selected witness. The witness must provide the questioner with a written answer.

Requests for production

A request for specific information or evidence: The opposing party could examine the provided documents. Any provided document could be copied, with the opposing party covering the cost of such an operation.

Requests for admission

This provides one side to ask the individual or group on the other side to admit to awareness of certain things. The answer to the request should contain only facts, and not any opinions or references to the law.

Physical examination of victim

The team representing the defendant could ask for an IME (independent medical examination). That should involve an examination of the body part(s) that were injured at the time of the accident.

Subpoena Duces Tecum

That is a subpoena to a non-party: That would be someone that was not involved in the accident, but someone that could offer added insight in to some aspect of the case.

A client’s lawyer might feel that it was unnecessary to pursue each of the methods that were made available during the discovery session. A good attorney would explain to his/her client which avenue/method to use, and which one to dismiss as a source of useful information.

A witness’ own capabilities would determine the best method for one side to use, when seeking evidence. Interrogatories would not prove especially useful, if presented to a young child. On the other hand, interrogatories could be the method-of-choice, if the witness was too old to travel to the site of a planned deposition.

Both the deposition and interrogatories would provide an attorney with statements from a witness, so that each of those statements could be compared to the information provided, while testifying at a trial. An attorney appreciates having that chance to check on the consistency of the story that has been told by the witness.

Still, each of the requests provides a lawyer with a chance to seek additional information. Depending on the nature of that information, it might be something that could cause the other side to consider settling the dispute.