Civil discovery under United States federal law

Civil discovery under United States federal law is wide-ranging and can involve any material which is relevant to the case except information which is privileged, information which is the work product of the opposing party, or certain kinds of expert opinions. (Criminal discovery rules may differ from those discussed here.) Electronic discovery or "e-discovery" is used when the material is stored on electronic media.

In practice, most civil cases in the United States are settled or resolved after discovery without actual trial. After discovery, both sides often are in agreement about the relative strength and weaknesses of each side's case and this often results in a settlement which eliminates the expense and risks of a trial. Another common way of the resolution without trial is a motion for summary judgment or a motion to dismiss.

Section 15 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 provided:

In 2007 Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 and, in 2009, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, referred to colloquially as "Twiqbal," were decided. Those two decisions, citing "judicial experience and common sense" as a standard, permit dismissal of cases filed in federal court without requiring discovery of a defendant unless significant concrete facts are alleged in a complaint. In 2015 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to limit discovery to materials that are “proportional to the needs of the case.”

Discovery in the United States is unique compared to other common law countries. In the United States, discovery is mostly performed by the litigating parties themselves, with relatively minimal judicial oversight. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure guide discovery in the U.S. federal court system. Most state courts follow a similar version based upon the FRCP, Chapter V "Depositions & Discovery" [1].

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