The word “discovery” describes the pre-trial process where an exchange of information takes place between the parties involved in a lawsuit.

The process known as discovery enables the parties to a case to compel adversaries to produce  (turn over)  evidence that is in their possession before a trial begins.

The discovery process is a formal procedure that typically takes place outside the courtroom setting.

The purpose of the formal discovery process is to prevent a situation where one side of a personal injury lawsuit does not learn of the other side’s witnesses or evidence until the trial. At this point, there would be no time for them to obtain responding evidence.

Essentially, the formal discovery process that takes place before a case goes to trial provides each side with an equal footing since it makes all information that is relevant to the personal injury case available to both sides.

When the parties to a lawsuit have equal access to all the information surrounding the case, the final outcome will be that the case can be decided based on its merits rather than which party has the most information.

There are many ways for injury lawyers (and insurance lawyers) to formally investigate and discover information when injured.