Discovery is the process where parties in litigation exchange documents. The purpose is to eliminate to the extent possible “trial by surprise.” The discovery period may last a few months to several years, depending on the complexity of the case and the needs of the parties. During discovery, parties must turn over documents that support their case and provide a list of witnesses that have knowledge or information about the facts in the case. Parties also have the opportunity to receive answers to interrogatories, request the production of documents, take depositions, and utilize other methods to obtain documents or testimony relating to the case. Discovery is an opportunity for both sides to investigate their claims and defenses.
Due to the proliferation of electronic documents and communications, discovery now includes emails, text messages, and documents of numerous file types. Electronic discovery includes the discovery of metadata and native files. Metadata is data imbedded in a file that contains information about the file, e.g. when the file was last saved and who created the file. Native files are the files in their original format, e.g. .pdf, .doc, etc.
There are two forums where discovery typically occurs: State Court and Federal Court. While there are many similarities between State and Federal discovery requirements, there are also many differences. State discovery requirements vary by state. Utah’s Rules of Civil Procedure govern how discovery must be conducted in the state courts, while the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern how discovery must be conducted in the federal courts.
Utah Rules of Civil Procedure
While there are numerous rules that govern discovery, the general requirements in for litigants in Utah’s State Courts are set forth in Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 26. Utah Rule 26 provides the general rules for initial disclosures, expert testimony, pretrial disclosures, the scope of discovery, electronically stored information, certain privileges, the method and sequence of discovery, limitations on the number of discovery devices that may be used, disclosure requirements, among other items. The following provisions of Utah Rule 26 are relevant to the other items in this outline:
26 a) Disclosure. This rule applies unless changed or supplemented by a rule governing disclosure and discovery in a practice area.
(a)(1) Initial disclosures. Except in cases exempt under paragraph (a)(3), a party shall, without waiting for a discovery request, serve on the other parties:
(a)(1)(A) the name and, if known, the address and telephone number of:
(a)(1)(A)(i) each individual likely to have discoverable information supporting its claims or defenses, unless solely for impeachment, identifying the subjects of the information; and
(a)(1)(A)(ii) each fact witness the party may call in its case-in-chief and, except for an adverse party, a summary of the expected testimony;
(a)(1)(B) a copy of all documents, data compilations, electronically stored information, and tangible things in the possession or control of the party that the party may offer in its case-in-chief, except charts, summaries and demonstrative exhibits that have not yet been prepared and must be disclosed in accordance with paragraph (a)(5);
(a)(1)(C) a computation of any damages claimed and a copy of all discoverable documents or evidentiary material on which such computation is based, including materials about the nature and extent of injuries suffered;
(a)(1)(D) a copy of any agreement under which any person may be liable to satisfy part or all of a judgment or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the judgment; and
(a)(1)(E) a copy of all documents to which a party refers in its pleadings.
26 (a)(4) Expert testimony.
(a)(4)(A) Disclosure of expert testimony. A party shall, without waiting for a discovery request, serve on the other parties the following information regarding any person who may be used at trial to present evidence under Rule 702 of the Utah Rules of Evidence and who is retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve giving expert testimony: (i) the expert’s name and qualifications, including a list of all publications authored within the preceding 10 years, and a list of any other cases in which the expert has testified as an expert at trial or by deposition within the preceding four years, (ii) a brief summary of the opinions to which the witness is expected to testify, (iii) all data and other information that will be relied upon by the witness in forming those opinions, and (iv) the compensation to be paid for the witness’s study and testimony.
(a)(4)(B) Limits on expert discovery. Further discovery may be obtained from an expert witness either by deposition or by written report. A deposition shall not exceed four hours and the party taking the deposition shall pay the expert’s reasonable hourly fees for attendance at the deposition. A report shall be signed by the expert and shall contain a complete statement of all opinions the expert will offer at trial and the basis and reasons for them. Such an expert may not testify in a party’s case-in-chief concerning any matter not fairly disclosed in the report. The party offering the expert shall pay the costs for the report.
26 (a)(5) Pretrial disclosures.
(a)(5)(A) A party shall, without waiting for a discovery request, serve on the other parties:
(a)(5)(A)(i) the name and, if not previously provided, the address and telephone number of each witness, unless solely for impeachment, separately identifying witnesses the party will call and witnesses the party may call;
(a)(5)(A)(ii) the name of witnesses whose testimony is expected to be presented by transcript of a deposition and a copy of the transcript with the proposed testimony designated; and
(a)(5)(A)(iii) a copy of each exhibit, including charts, summaries and demonstrative exhibits, unless solely for impeachment, separately identifying those which the party will offer and those which the party may offer.
(a)(5)(B) Disclosure required by paragraph (a)(5) shall be served on the other parties at least 28 days before trial. At least 14 days before trial, a party shall serve and file counter designations of deposition testimony, objections and grounds for the objections to the use of a deposition and to the admissibility of exhibits. Other than objections under Rules 402 and 403 of the Utah Rules of Evidence, objections not listed are waived unless excused by the court for good cause.
26 (b) Discovery scope.
(b)(1) In general. Parties may discover any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the claim or defense of any party if the discovery satisfies the standards of proportionality set forth below. Privileged matters that are not discoverable or admissible in any proceeding of any kind or character include all information in any form provided during and created specifically as part of a request for an investigation, the investigation, findings, or conclusions of peer review, care review, or quality assurance processes of any organization of health care providers as defined in the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act for the purpose of evaluating care provided to reduce morbidity and mortality or to improve the quality of medical care, or for the purpose of peer review of the ethics, competence, or professional conduct of any health care provider
(b)(2) Proportionality. Discovery and discovery requests are proportional if:
(b)(2)(A) the discovery is reasonable, considering the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, the complexity of the case, the parties’ resources, the importance of the issues, and the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues;
(b)(2)(B) the likely benefits of the proposed discovery outweigh the burden or expense;
(b)(2)(C) the discovery is consistent with the overall case management and will further the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of the case;
(b)(2)(D) the discovery is not unreasonably cumulative or duplicative;
(b)(2)(E) the information cannot be obtained from another source that is more convenient, less burdensome or less expensive; and
(b)(2)(F) the party seeking discovery has not had sufficient opportunity to obtain the information by discovery or otherwise, taking into account the parties’ relative access to the information.
(b)(3) Burden. The party seeking discovery always has the burden of showing proportionality and relevance. To ensure proportionality, the court may enter orders under Rule 37.
(b)(4) Electronically stored information. A party claiming that electronically stored information is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost shall describe the source of the electronically stored information, the nature and extent of the burden, the nature of the information not provided, and any other information that will enable other parties to evaluate the claim.
26 (d) Requirements for disclosure or response; disclosure or response by an organization; failure to disclose; initial and supplemental disclosures and responses.
(d)(1) A party shall make disclosures and responses to discovery based on the information then known or reasonably available to the party.
(d)(2) If the party providing disclosure or responding to discovery is a corporation, partnership, association, or governmental agency, the party shall act through one or more officers, directors, managing agents, or other persons, who shall make disclosures and responses to discovery based on the information then known or reasonably available to the party.
(d)(3) A party is not excused from making disclosures or responses because the party has not completed investigating the case or because the party challenges the sufficiency of another party’s disclosures or responses or because another party has not made disclosures or responses.
(d)(4) If a party fails to disclose or to supplement timely a disclosure or response to discovery, that party may not use the undisclosed witness, document or material at any hearing or trial unless the failure is harmless or the party shows good cause for the failure.
(d)(5) If a party learns that a disclosure or response is incomplete or incorrect in some important way, the party must timely serve on the other parties the additional or correct information if it has not been made known to the other parties. The supplemental disclosure or response must state why the additional or correct information was not previously provided
Rule 34. Production of documents and things and entry upon land for inspection and other purposes.
(a) Scope.
(a)(1) Any party may serve on any other party a request to produce and permit the requesting party to inspect, copy, test or sample any designated discoverable documents, electronically stored information or tangible things (including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations stored in any medium from which information can be obtained, translated, if necessary, by the respondent into reasonably usable form) in the possession or control of the responding party.
(a)(2) Any party may serve on any other party a request to permit entry upon designated property in the possession or control of the responding party for the purpose of inspecting, measuring, surveying, photographing, testing, or sampling the property or any designated discoverable object or operation on the property.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Similarly, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide the rules that govern litigants in federal court. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 provides the requirements for initial disclosures, expert testimony, pretrial disclosures, discovery scope and limits, protective orders, timing and sequence of discovery, supplemental disclosures, the discovery conference of the parties, the discovery plan, and other discovery issues. The following provisions of Federal Rule 26 are relevant to the other items in this outline:
26(a) Required Disclosures.
(1) Initial Disclosure.
(A) In General. Except as exempted by Rule 26(a)(1)(B) or as otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court, a party must, without awaiting a discovery request, provide to the other parties:
(i) the name and, if known, the address and telephone number of each individual likely to have discoverable information—along with the subjects of that information—that the disclosing party may use to support its claims or defenses, unless the use would be solely for impeachment;
(ii) a copy—or a description by category and location—of all documents, electronically stored information, and tangible things that the disclosing party has in its possession, custody, or control and may use to support its claims or defenses, unless the use would be solely for impeachment;
(iii) a computation of each category of damages claimed by the disclosing party—who must also make available for inspection and copying as under Rule 34 the documents or other evidentiary material, unless privileged or protected from disclosure, on which each computation is based, including materials bearing on the nature and extent of injuries suffered; and
(iv) for inspection and copying as under Rule 34, any insurance agreement under which an insurance business may be liable to satisfy all or part of a possible judgment in the action or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the judgment.
26 (2) Disclosure of Expert Testimony.
(A) In General. In addition to the disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(1), a party must disclose to the other parties the identity of any witness it may use at trial to present evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, 703, or 705.
26(3) Pretrial Disclosures.
(A) In General. In addition to the disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(1) and (2), a party must provide to the other parties and promptly file the following information about the evidence that it may present at trial other than solely for impeachment:
(i) the name and, if not previously provided, the address and telephone number of each witness—separately identifying those the party expects to present and those it may call if the need arises;
(ii) the designation of those witnesses whose testimony the party expects to present by deposition and, if not taken stenographically, a transcript of the pertinent parts of the deposition; and
(iii) an identification of each document or other exhibit, including summaries of other evidence—separately identifying those items the party expects to offer and those it may offer if the need arises.
26(b) Discovery Scope and Limits.
(1) Scope in General. Unless otherwise limited by court order, the scope of discovery is as follows: Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.
(b)(2)(B) Specific Limitations on Electronically Stored Information. A party need not provide discovery of electronically stored information from sources that the party identifies as not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. On motion to compel discovery or for a protective order, the party from whom discovery is sought must show that the information is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. If that showing is made, the court may nonetheless order discovery from such sources if the requesting party shows good cause, considering the limitations of Rule 26(b)(2)(C). The court may specify conditions for the discovery.
26(3) Trial Preparation: Materials.
(A) Documents and Tangible Things. Ordinarily, a party may not discover documents and tangible things that are prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or its representative (including the other party’s attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent). But, subject to Rule 26(b)(4), those materials may be discovered if:
(i) they are otherwise discoverable under Rule 26(b)(1); and
(ii) the party shows that it has substantial need for the materials to prepare its case and cannot, without undue hardship, obtain their substantial equivalent by other means.
26(e) Supplementing Disclosures and Responses.
(1) In General. A party who has made a disclosure under Rule 26(a)—or who has responded to an interrogatory, request for production, or request for admission—must supplement or correct its disclosure or response:
(A) in a timely manner if the party learns that in some material respect the disclosure or response is incomplete or incorrect, and if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing; or
(B) as ordered by the court.
Rule 34(a) In General. A party may serve on any other party a request within the scope of Rule 26(b):
(1) to produce and permit the requesting party or its representative to inspect, copy, test, or sample the following items in the responding party’s possession, custody, or control:
(A) any designated documents or electronically stored information—including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations—stored in any medium from which information can be obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the responding party into a reasonably usable form; or
(B) any designated tangible things; or
(2) to permit entry onto designated land or other property possessed or controlled by the responding party, so that the requesting party may inspect, measure, survey, photograph, test, or sample the property or any designated object or operation on it
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