Serving the Trucking Industry

Discovery is a very important step in the trucking litigation process, as itsets the tone for litigation. Responses to discovery, for example, may be used against a party at trial. We take the aggressive approach of serving discovery upon opposing parties as soon as the Complaint and Answer have been filed in an effort to lock the party into a set of facts before they really have a chance to develop their version of the case with the assistance of counsel. Methods of discovery include; depositions, interrogatories, request for production of documents, independent medical examinations, subpoenas and requests for admissions. All of these are important tools in determining the position and support for the opposing parties’ claims/defenses in their case.

Discovery is broad. Parties are permitted to discover any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter of the action. Generally, the courts allow discovery, however, discovery is not to be used as a fishing expedition. In fact, the information sought in discovery does not necessarily need to be admissible at trial, it simply needs to be reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence.

Documents and information may be protected from discovery if the information is privileged. The most common privileges applicable to the litigation of motor vehicle accidents are attorney client privilege and attorney work product. Attorney client privilege protects confidential communications between a client and his/her attorney. Work Product Privilege protects the mental impressions of a client’s attorney, which may include the attorney’s notes, opinions, research, memos and legal theories of the case. Neither of these privileges are absolute and the court may order disclosure despite the existence of either privilege.

In responding to discovery, a party cannot fail to disclose a document or information, simply because the document or information is not favorable to that party’s case. Thus, when documenting an accident and keeping general records, it is important to be aware of the possibility that those documents and records will most likely be discoverable, which is one of the reasons we recommend not taking a driver’s statement following an accident. The statement will be discoverable and may be used against the client later in litigation. Keep in mind that company emails concerning the accident are generally discoverable unless they fall under a privilege. Therefore, the content of company emails regarding the accident should be limited to relevant information.