The discovery period is essential in business litigation

As a business owner, you likely understood from the beginning of your venture that disputes were likely to occur at some point. In some instances, you and others involved with your company may have the ability to handle the issue fairly quickly and quietly. In other cases, it may take legal action to ensure the appropriate handling of a dispute.

If you have not yet had to take your business into a litigated legal dispute, you may want to brush up on what it could mean in terms of the process. In particular, the discovery period of your case could play an important role in gathering all the facts relating to the dispute and the case overall.

Moving forward with discovery

Any type of legal dispute can rely heavily on evidence and testimony. If you believe that another company has caused damage to your business, such as by carrying out unfair competition actions or infringing on your intellectual property, having evidence to support your claim could help your case. During the discovery period, there is a collection of information from both sides involved, and both sides have a right to review that information unless is it confidential for some reason, such as attorney-client discussions.

Even if you are bringing the lawsuit, you will likely still need to provide documents and testimony during the discovery period. Often, a deadline exists for providing that evidence. In some cases, this part of the legal process can take months to complete due to information requests and evidence provided. While this may seem time consuming, it could help the case move forward more quickly once litigation begins, as parties have already agreed upon the facts.

Preparing for discovery

Preparing for this portion of your case can be complex. You may not know what information the other parties may request, and it can take time to gather necessary documents. You may need to answer questions through interrogatories, present requested documents and give verbal testimony during depositions. These steps can seem tedious at times, but they can help ensure that all essential information relating to your business dispute comes to light.

If you have concerns about the discovery period of this type of legal case or want to know how to prepare, you may want to gain more information on this crucial stage of the litigation process from an experienced Texas business law attorney.