Questions tagged [discovery]
The discovery tag has no usage guidance.
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When did criminal discovery rules substantially form?
The apparent non-existence of any criminal discovery/disclosure in Anatomy of a murder (1959) has struck me as odd and wildly disturbing. The trial is just a series of surprises to both sides.
For ...
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An attorney can't afford to pay for professional services to search & retrieve required documents for civil & criminal proceedings, what happens next?
If an attorney in the US is being required to produce substantial but selected legal records and documents for a mix of criminal and civil litigations against the attorney, and these documents are ...
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What happens if a witness that has been subpoenaed refuses to speak to the opposing party's lawyers?
I'm not a lawyer, and this is a hypothetical situation that I thought about while watching a trial.
If a prosecutor issues a subpoena for someone to testify at a trial, it's my understanding that the ...
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Discovery of Evidence - Context, Significance and Meaning?
(In US criminal proceedings) The Prosecution must provide all evidence against the Defendant to the Defense before the trial begins in the "Discovery process".
Is the Prosecution also ...
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In the real case represented in the Travolta film A Civil Action, why didn't plaintiffs just wait for the EPA report?
The film A Civil Action starred John Travolta as plaintiffs’ attorney Schilchtmann. It tells the true story of the plaintiffs’ efforts to establish the liability of two corporate defendants (Beatrice ...
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What are the Defense / Prosecution required to share with each other?
If the prosecution has their hands on some choice evidence that can be used as a "gotcha" against the defense and catch them off guard, are they allowed to do that? Or are the prosecution ...
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Time limits in requesting discovery?
Is there a time limit for an opposing side to ask for discovery in a civil suit in MA?
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Defendant's Cherry-Picking
In Discovery, "the prosecutor is obligated to provide to the defendant any information that is exculpatory or potentially exculpatory".
I am looking for cases where the defendant, on the ...
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Can I ask a retail store for video & audio they may have of me? [closed]
https://g.co/kgs/Mprheh
Please read the link I provided. It will take you to a Google review I have left for a retail store in my area. It'll explain it all!
Thank you for all and everyone's help.
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Can medical records ever be subpoenaed or discovered in any judicial context?
My understanding is that medical records are legally privileged. What does this actually mean? Can they ever be required by a court to be disclosed under any context, or for any reason? (e.g. if ...
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Could Alex Jones' lawyer have claimed back the data he should have produced in discovery?
As I understand it from the news and some blogs:
Alex Jones and his lawyers were asked during discovery to provide any message from his cellphone that did mention the Sandy Hook massacre. He claimed ...
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Was Alex Jones's attorney handing over phone-record evidence a "mishap" or required by law?
CNN reports on Alex Jones's case regarding Sandy Hook as follows:
Jones, who was the sole witness for the defense during the trial, did not fare well Wednesday as he was cross-examined by the ...
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Can a company or lawyer force someone to turn over an encryption key?
In the Office episode The Deposition, Jan sues Dunder Mifflin for wrongful termination. During the deposition she pulls out Michael's journal to help her case.
Suppose Michael encrypted his entries (...
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Will Twitter's lawsuit against Elon Musk allow him to force disclosure of the bot data he was seeking from Twitter?
Elon Musk made an offer to Twitter to buy the company. Twitter's board accepted. Apparently Twitter had some obligations in the fine print to disclose certain aspects of their userbase (there is a ...
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e-Discovery: How mandatory are the data fields requested by the Congress?
Some data requests sent by the US Congress sound like they require some metadata fields to be populated attached to files, “unmodified”.
For example, this request (as do other similar ones) says:
...
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Discovery process and evidence in a "foreign" language
During the discovery procedure, the parties can obtain some evidence from the other party(ies) or non-parties. In the situation that interests me, one of the parties has evidence that is in a language ...
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Family sue police over existence of body camera footage
The media indicates:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-breonna-taylors-family-sue-police-existence-body/story?id=78753109&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_hero_hed
The lawsuit, filed in ...
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Evidence Estoppel
It is in the interest of the courts to that Florida HOA records are accessible so as to ensure that it is possible to resolve difference before bringing them to an authoritative adjudicating body. ...
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Can a defendant in a child pornography case get access to the actual material as evidence in California?
I am engaged in a semi-civil discussion regarding a recent case about a person in California who is accused of being in possession of child pornography. The person on the other side is of the opinion ...
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How does discovery work for financial crimes?
There is a case in the news at the moment about the post office securing 736 convictions for false accounting and theft that later some were overturned on the basis of an accounting error made by an ...
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Remedies for missing discovery
What happens, or what remedies are offered to a plaintiff, when a defendant in a civil action does not provide complete discovery?
Suppose:
The plaintiff requested discovery of "all emails sent ...
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What is the difference between a subpoena and a court order?
In the context of trying to get someone’s real personal information from online/social media accounts, which is necessary?
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In California, what is the law that authorizes the moving party of motion for protective order not to comply with the discovery in question?
Some attorneys say so (e.g. https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/is-the-discovery-process-halted-when-a-motion-for--3637798.html), but when I looked into the statute (CCP 2030.090, 2031.060, 2033.080), ...
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Is surveillance video discoverable in an invasion of privacy case in New Jersey?
A neighbor was doing some work near the border between two properties so a security camera was put up to monitor for any trespass or damage which had been a problem in the past with this person. ...
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How do plaintiffs get emails relating to companies they are suing?
For example in the case of IBM getting sued over age discrimination, the plaintiff somehow got emails showing that upper management instructed his director manager not to transfer him but to fire him. ...
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Are FULL documents required for discovery or will portions suffice?
Simple question. When supplying documents for discovery must one supply the whole document or just pertinent portions?
Example - In dispute is a % or a closing date. The key info is available in a 10-...
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What is needed to start discovery on a civil conspiracy claim?
Say that a plaintiff alleges that defendants X and Y have engaged in a civil conspiracy, and wants to subpoena communications between X and Y regarding the plaintiff. If the plaintiff is already ...
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Does a client have custody and control over lawyer's documents?
A Plaintiff propounds a document request on a defendent who was a client of an attorney. Does this client have custody and control over his own attorney's documents?
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Am I obligated to provide information which is publicly available?
If I am involved in a civil case and I am served with a discovery motion to provide certain information, but this information is publicly available (such as employment history, residential address, ...
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Using interrogatory or depo to ask libel defendant what facts she relied on in making statement
In a libel case, should I ask the publisher of the statement what facts she relied on in deposition or via interrogatory? I'm concerned that since an interrogatory can be supplemented, that her ...
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Counterparty fails to respond to discovery, should I make another pleading or object at trial?
I have a civil trial coming up. I have been accused of speeding in a motor vehicle and plan to defend myself against this false charge.
I made a motion for discovery which was for very basic ...
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Can the DA refuse me discovery because I'm pro se
When I started to strongly feel that my court appointed atty was trying to get me "the best deal" rather than actually defend me against a crime that he admitted there really wasn't evidence I ...
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Ordered to hand over all messages with Plaintiffs name, though not being used in defense. Is this really allowed and enforceable in CA?
My friend (Jane, NY resident) is being bullied by a high net worth person (John, father of her child) in family court(NY) but she is doing fine in that case despite having very little money and going ...
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What practical confidentiality protections can BSA offer to software piracy whistleblowers?
This question refers to a form for reporting software piracy. That page has an FAQ question:
If I report software piracy to the BSA, will my name be kept confidential?
Your name will never be ...
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How can I determine whether a copyright troll actually owns the copyright they claim?
In recent years "copyright trolls" have been sending demand letters to web sites that claim images found on the sites infringe copyrights, and that they (the trolls) are authorized to settle the ...
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Non-Party Request for Documents under Litigation Hold
Assume that Party A has brought a civil lawsuit against Party B. Assume further that Party A has issued a document preservation demand upon Party B covering all documents in Party B's possession, ...
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discovery objections
suppose a party is seeking discovery on an opponent.
The opponent refuses to answer discovery because they say "irrelevant, not related to the claims".
If the opponent does that on interrogatories ...
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Public defenders not getting discovery evidence in sufficient time, is this Court Misconduct?
In my legal situation described here, I called the public defender several times ahead of the first pretrial meeting requesting to meet with him and let him know the truth, the broader case (the ...
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What can I do if police did not record video in car dashcam for a traffic ticket in NJ, USA?
Are police required to record in car dashcam video for traffic tickets in NJ, USA? A town in NJ said not all of their police cars record video.
Is there any way to find out if they aren’t telling the ...
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Motion or Demand for Discovery (NY) (Family Law) [closed]
Note: I am a truther-activist and a great father, I just owe the government a few thousand dollars. I am respectfully seeking your knowledge.
Scenario: My legal fiction is being summoned; first ...
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Why would corporate house counsel be limited by unsupervised discovery?
Source: The Betrayed Profession (1994), p. 11 Middle.
Indeed, even today we have significant areas of law where
lawyers must pledge not to do what their clients would wish
them to do. Judges ...
user89
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Discovery of evidence seized in a criminal investigation
The recent raid of Michael Cohen’s office and residences has led me to wonder about the interplay between discovery in federal civil procedure and evidence seized in a criminal investigation. (The ...
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Are traffic court prosecutors required to watch dashcam videos before presenting officers witness testimony?
Dashcam video can contradict an officer's testimony or police report, so are prosecutors required to watch dashcam video before trial to ensure the officer's testimony is true?
When a discovery ...
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When do depositions require a court reporter?
I've looked at some rules of civil procedure that suggest that a deposition must always be attended by a court reporter.
But my impression (perhaps resulting from too much TV) was that depositions ...
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What determines the valid jurisdiction for a subpoena for written information collected by a 3rd party who has connections to multiple jurisdictions?
Which of the following affect the valid jurisdiction:
The location of the collecting party?
What if the party (resides/does business/practices/is licensed) in more than one state?
The location ...
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Personal, Subpoena'd Information that's Exculpatory is 'Missing'
If information is acquired by a prosecutor that is potentially exculpatory but misplaced, what should a defense attorney do, and what (beyond admonishment) would a judge ordinarily do?
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Publish a paper on ligation support analytics
I am lead developer on the server side of some litigation support software. I want to publish a paper as an individual. I have talked to my company and they will review the paper and they have the ...
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Plaintiff didn't respond to discovery - and later settled - can I get any legal fees back?
I was sued in New Jersey on (IMHO) pretty shaky grounds. I hired a pricey lawyer ($495/hr) to try to take care of it quickly. It was clear to me that the other side didn't have any intention to go ...
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At what times during the litigation process is discovery allowed?
My divorce was finalized a couple of years ago. My ex recently filed a Motion for Contempt over some bills that were not paid that I was ordered to pay. These bills were all in her name and the ...
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Subpoena vs Motion to Compel
Are there clear rules on when to use subpoenas for discovery as opposed to requests? E.g., is it correct that subpoenas are supposed to be served for discovery from third parties to a legal action, ...
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