When conducting discovery in personal injury matters that arise from construction accidents, the discovery requests, like in other matters, dictate the documents received. However, the difference is that with a construction project, there are a number of documents, areas of inquiry, and file materials that are important in an attempt to establish your claims against the owner or various contractors, but if not properly requested, they may not be produced. If the request is too broad (i.e., the construction file), you will be faced with an objection that the request simply seeks every bill, receipt, invoice, subcontract, etc., and many documents that have absolutely nothing to do with the issues in your litigation. If the request is too specific, and if you do not ask for the materials the correct way, you may not receive them (i.e., produce JSAs; response “none”—unbeknownst to the requesting party, the contractor did not use JSAs, they used JHAs (see below)). When pursuing a premises liability case, motor vehicle accident case, a dog bite case, etc., the world of documents is much smaller and less particularized. However, there are a number of areas that should be explored in a construction accident case, depending upon the type of accident. The intent of this article is not to identify every single document, as the requests are case specific. Nevertheless, some documents should be requested in all cases, such as all contracts, subcontracts, scopes of work, change orders, safety manuals, accident reports, and photographs, while keeping in mind there are many, many more materials to request.

For example, you should request all building permits for a number of reasons. Oftentimes the building permit process has a certification section in which the applicant agrees to be bound by all applicable rules, regulations, laws, etc. Therefore, the applicant, at the outset, has agreed to be bound by OSHA and any other applicable rules and regulations. You will need the permits to know who the applicant was, as it is not always the owner or the general contractor but may be the particular subcontractor responsible for the specific work in issue.

Further, discovery through the building permit process may often reveal additional documents, plans, communications, etc., that might not ordinarily be produced otherwise. While you make the building permits part of your discovery requests, also reach out to the local building inspector's office and obtain the job file for the project as well. The undersigned has seen more than one case, even very large $100 million-plus projects, where no building permit was ever obtained. This, in and of itself, makes for some interesting discovery issues. It is also recommended the deed be obtained as many companies, especially on large projects, create a new company for ownership of purely that property.