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In this lesson, you will learn how discovery relates to evidence.
What is the difference between discovery and evidence?
DISCOVERY – The stage in the case where each party gathers evidence from other parties.
EVIDENCE – Includes documents and other things that establish the truth or the lack of truth of any fact.
Think of discovery as a part of the larger realm of evidence law.
Transcript
Discovery is the point in a case where each party gathers evidence from the others.
Evidence includes any documents, photographs, witness accounts, or other things that tend to establish the truth or lack of truth of some factual allegation in a case.
As a pro se litigant, you have just as much right to gather evidence by which I mean to send discovery request, depose witnesses, and so on, as does your opponent who may be represented by an attorney.
During discovery, you\’ll gather information from all available sources to be used to prove or disprove the claims, counter claims, and affirmative defenses in your case.
Once that information is gathered, evidence laws govern which documents or other things can actually be presented in court.
And so, though discovery and evidence are inextricably linked, it\’s important to remember that evidence is not some lesser cousin to discovery.
Rather discovery is actually part of the larger realm of evidence law.
In the end, it\’s all going to come down to whether the evidence you\’ve it in discovery is actually admissible in court.