You've been injured. Or, perhaps you are a victim of fraud or breach of contract. You are angry and ready to seek remuneration from the responsible parties. You thumb through the phone book looking for a lawyer. You want to sue. Before you dial the phone, take time to carefully consider the damaging and often irreparable effects litigation will have on YOU! Yes, you, the injured party - the plaintiff. I spent more than a decade working for various law firms as a litigation paralegal. As such, one of my primary responsibilities was managing the litigation discovery process for each of the cases assigned to me. Discovery is the means by which opposing attorneys learn facts and information about the other parties to a lawsuit. Specifically, every party to a lawsuit is subjected to written questions and requests for production of documents, as well as giving deposition testimony, designed to elicit information and documentation that the opposing parties can use against them in litigating the case. These documents, Interrogatories, Requests for Admissions and Requests for Production of Documents, are filed with the court and must be answered truthfully, under oath, by the party on whom they are served via certified mail, through their respective counsel of record. Likewise, the comments and answers given by a party during a deposition are taken under oath and are permanently recorded by the court reporter and filed with the court. The fact is that a party providing answers to discovery, particularly deposition testimony, is subject to the same penalties of perjury that apply in a courtroom. Discovery questions are not light-hearted inquiries. Their sole purpose is to dredge up past indiscretions, details of prior lawsuits and very private, personal information about the parties to a lawsuit. We are all familiar with the adage, "skeletons in the closet." Unfortunately, nearly everyone has them. None of us wants them "discovered." Nevertheless, if you become a party to litigation, you have little choice but to open the closet door and expose your past for all to see. The court can, and will, compel your responses to these discovery documents, sometimes with painful consequences. So, don't assume that you can just omit information or hide behind partial truths. Attorneys, and more particularly their paralegals, are quite adept at uncovering salacious and derogatory information. Opening up your personal life and your past to intense scrutiny can affect devastating consequences for you and your family. I have personally witnessed the breakdown of witnesses during their depositions and at trial as opposing lawyers indiscriminately spout embarrassing and life-altering information to discredit them. Remember, however, that the lawyers are simply doing their jobs. Sadly, most people are nave and/or grossly misinformed about the litigation process and the toll it will take on all involved parties, themselves and their families included. So, before rushing headlong into a lawsuit with the predisposition that you will emerge the victor, completely unscathed, consider the following: 1)Do I have a criminal record? 2)Do I want personal, private information about myself and my family made public? 3)Have I been a party to previous lawsuits? 4)What events from my past would I not want disclosed to opposing counsel and the jury? 5)Have I paid my taxes in accordance with the IRS rules and regulations? 6)Have I done anything shameful or embarrassing that I would not want my family, friends, neighbors, employer or the general public to know about? 7)Am I comfortable with admitting to any comparative responsibility I might have in the pursuit of a lawsuit for damages? 8)Will the recovery of monetary damages actually make me whole again, and is it worth the price I will pay personally and professionally? The most critical of these questions is, of course, number 8. While the chance to recover monetary damages can be enticing, think long and hard about the sacrifices you will endure in the process. Will you, in the end, feel that it was worth it? Or, will you regret, perhaps for the rest of your life, opening Pandora's box? |
