Talking About Privacy Law

When an accident has you hurt, you may be facing a long, drawn out recovery period as well as a long, drawn out wait for compensation. Taking a personal injury case to trial is a process, and many people don't realize that the actual trial part of the process comes at the very end. Sandwiched between the filing of the lawsuit and the day your trial begins is the discovery period. Read on to learn more about this phase of your case and in particular, the deposition.

What is the purpose of discovery? You've probably watched plenty of television shows where a "surprise" witness dramatically strides through the courtroom doors just in time to save the day and completely turn the case around for one side or the other. What most people fail to realize is, that in real life, this sort of thing almost never happens and can cause a great deal of problems when it does. The discovery part of a case, whether it be a civil or criminal case, allows each side (the plaintiff and the defense) to share information about the case prior to going to court. Discovery usually consists of interrogatories, which are questionnaires and a deposition.

What is the purpose of a deposition? You could think of this pretrial event as a practice session for the real trial that is to come later. While it normally takes place in a conference room instead of a courtroom, and there is no judge present to preside over the proceedings, it is very similar to trial. All parties and witnesses are called to be questioned, one at a time, by the attorneys for both sides. Everyone is sworn to take an oath of honesty and anything said at a deposition could later be used during the trial.

What could be discovered? Since attorneys are allowed to ask almost anything, a great deal of information could be at each side's disposal after a deposition is complete. The other side, for example, will know what evidence they could be facing in court, such as photographs, videos, eye witnesses and more. Moreover, they will have a better idea of how everyone behaves under questioning. Depending on how well the deposition went for your side, you may find yourself the recipient of a settlement offer from the other side once they get a good look at the facts of the case. Settlements are a good thing; they cut the entire process short and allow you to be compensated outside of court. In fact, most cases never even make it to court.

To learn more about your deposition, speak with your personal injury attorney, like Spesia & Ayers Attorneys At Law .