How Do I Get My Discovery From Court? Requests and Subpoenas

In a federal civil case, you get discovery through four routes: the other side must hand over core materials automatically as initial disclosures, you send written requests directly to the other party using interrogatories, requests for production, depositions, and requests for admission, you subpoena anyone who isn’t a party under Rule 45, and you ask the court clerk (or pull through PACER) for anything already filed in the case. If a party ignores a proper request, you move to compel. That is the whole map for how to get discovery from court, and the rest is knowing which tool fits which situation and what deadlines apply.

What You Can Actually Ask For

Federal discovery reaches any nonprivileged information relevant to a claim or defense, as long as the request is proportional to the needs of the case.¹ Information does not have to be admissible at trial to be discoverable. Courts weigh the importance of the issues, the amount at stake, each side’s access to the information, and whether the burden of producing it outweighs the likely benefit.

In practice this means targeted requests survive and sweeping ones don’t. Asking for every email a company has sent in the past ten years probably fails proportionality. Asking for communications between two named people over a defined window about the subject of the lawsuit almost certainly passes. The party objecting bears the burden of explaining why a request crosses the line.

What You Get Without Asking: Initial Disclosures

You do not have to file a single request to start receiving discovery. Both sides must exchange certain core information automatically early in the case, and skipping this step invites sanctions.

Before formal discovery begins, the parties hold a planning conference (the Rule 26(f) conference) at least 21 days before the court’s scheduling conference or scheduling order deadline.¹ The parties discuss the claims and defenses, put together a discovery plan, and work out practical matters like the format for producing electronic documents.

After that conference, each side must provide four categories of information without waiting for a request:

The name, address, and phone number of anyone likely to have relevant information, with the topics they know about.
A copy or description (by category and location) of all documents, electronically stored information, and physical items the party may use to support its claims or defenses.
A computation of each category of damages claimed, plus the underlying documents showing how the numbers were built.
Any insurance policy that might cover part or all of a judgment in the case.

These disclosures are required under Rule 26(a)(1)(A) and apply in most civil cases unless the court orders otherwise or the parties agree to a different arrangement.¹

Getting Discovery Directly From the Other Side

Initial disclosures rarely tell the whole story. Four written tools let you go after specific information, each with its own limits and deadlines.

Interrogatories

Interrogatories are written questions the other party answers under oath. They work well for pinning down basic facts: names of witnesses, legal theories, the timeline of events. You are limited to 25 interrogatories per party, including subparts, unless the court grants more.² The responding party has 30 days after service to answer or object.

The cap forces you to be strategic. Vague questions waste your allotment and invite objections; specific, fact-based questions get usable answers. If you need more than 25, you can ask the court, but you’ll have to show proportionality.

Requests for Production

A request for production compels the other side to hand over documents, electronically stored information, or physical objects relevant to the case. There is no default cap on the number of requests. The responding party has 30 days to respond in writing, either producing the materials or stating specific objections.³

Specificity does the heavy lifting. A request for “all documents related to the contract” will generate objections. A request for “all emails between John Smith and Jane Doe between January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025 regarding the supply agreement dated March 15, 2024” gets results. The more precisely you describe what you need, the harder it is for the other side to dodge.

Depositions

A deposition is live, oral questioning of a witness under oath, recorded by a court reporter or on video. Depositions let you evaluate credibility, lock in testimony, and explore ground that written answers gloss over. Each side is limited to 10 depositions, and each deposition is capped at one day of seven hours, unless the court allows more.⁴ Depositions are the most expensive discovery tool. Court reporter fees and per-page transcript costs add up, so most litigants reserve them for key witnesses.

Requests for Admission

Requests for admission ask the other side to confirm or deny specific factual statements. If the other party fails to respond within 30 days, each statement is automatically deemed admitted and binding for the rest of the case.⁵ Missing the deadline can concede key facts without a fight. Use admissions to narrow issues for trial and eliminate disputes over facts the other side cannot reasonably deny.

Getting Materials From Someone Who Isn’t a Party

Discovery requests reach only the parties in the lawsuit. When you need documents or testimony from someone else, you use a subpoena under Rule 45. An attorney authorized to practice in the court where the action is pending can issue and sign one.⁶

A subpoena can require a non-party to produce documents, appear for a deposition, or both. Whoever serves it must be at least 18 years old and not a party. If the subpoena requires personal appearance, you must tender one day’s attendance fee and mileage costs at the time of service.⁶

Geography matters. A subpoena can only require someone to appear for testimony within 100 miles of where they live, work, or regularly do business in person, and the same 100-mile radius applies to producing documents. Travel farther within a home state can be compelled only if it would not cause substantial expense. Before serving a document subpoena on a non-party, you must also serve a copy of the subpoena and a notice on every other party in the case.

Non-parties can push back. A recipient of a document subpoena can serve a written objection within 14 days (or before the compliance deadline, whichever is earlier). You would then need to ask the court to compel production. The court must protect non-parties from significant expense caused by compliance.⁶

Getting Copies of Materials Already Filed With the Court

Sometimes what you need has already been filed with the court as exhibits to motions or as part of the record. To get copies, submit a written request to the court clerk identifying the case number and the specific documents you want. Clerks handle paperwork, not legal questions, so be precise.

Expect to pay copying and certification fees. Per-page copy costs and flat certification fees vary between courts. Many federal courts now offer electronic access through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), which is often faster and cheaper than requesting paper copies. Check the court’s website for its fee schedule and accepted payment methods before submitting a request. If discovery materials were filed under seal pursuant to a protective order, the clerk cannot release them without a court order.

When the Other Side Won’t Cooperate

If a party ignores your requests, provides evasive answers, or hides behind boilerplate objections, the next step is a motion to compel asking the court to order proper responses.

Before you file, the federal rules require a written certification that you tried in good faith to resolve the dispute without court involvement.⁷ That means actually calling opposing counsel or sending a detailed letter explaining what is missing and giving a reasonable chance to fix it. Skipping this step is a quick way to have your motion denied.

The motion should lay out what you requested, what the other side provided or failed to provide, and why the missing information matters. Attach the original requests and any deficient responses. Most courts also expect a supporting memorandum.

If the court grants your motion, the losing side typically must pay your reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, for having to bring it. If your motion is denied, you may be ordered to pay the other side’s costs. When a motion is granted in part and denied in part, the court can split the expenses however it sees fit.

What Sanctions Look Like

Rule 37 gives judges a wide toolkit for handling parties who obstruct discovery.⁷ Available sanctions include monetary penalties covering the other side’s reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees, orders establishing disputed facts as proven, evidentiary restrictions barring the non-compliant party from introducing certain evidence or supporting particular claims, adverse inference instructions telling the jury it may presume the withheld information was unfavorable, and in extreme cases dismissal or default judgment.

Courts weigh whether the failure was deliberate or accidental, how badly it prejudiced the other side, and whether the non-compliant party made any effort to fix it.

Confidential Materials and Protective Orders

Some discoverable information is legitimately sensitive: trade secrets, personal financial records, medical data, proprietary business strategies. A protective order lets the court set ground rules for handling this material. Either side can request one by showing good cause for restricting access.¹

A typical protective order restricts who can view the materials, often limiting access to attorneys, their staff, designated experts, and court personnel. Documents filed under a protective order may be sealed to prevent public access. Some orders create tiered confidentiality designations with stricter rules for the most sensitive categories.

These orders have teeth. Violating one can result in sanctions, contempt, or both. If you receive materials designated as confidential, follow the order’s terms exactly.

Your Ongoing Duty to Update

Discovery is not a one-time event. If you learn that something you disclosed or provided in a response is materially incomplete or incorrect, you have to update it. The duty applies to your initial disclosures, interrogatory answers, document productions, and responses to requests for admission, and it requires supplementation at appropriate intervals, not just when the other side asks.¹ If you discover a new witness or document later and don’t update, the court can exclude that evidence at trial.

State Court Is Different

Everything above describes the federal rules. State courts have their own procedural rules, and while many follow the federal framework closely, the details differ. Response deadlines, interrogatory limits, deposition caps, and subpoena mechanics can all vary. If your case is in state court, check your jurisdiction’s rules of civil procedure before relying on the federal deadlines and limits described here.

1
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery
2
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 33 – Interrogatories to Parties
3
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 34 – Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering Onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes
4
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 30 – Depositions by Oral Examination
5
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission
6
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45 – Subpoena
7
LII / Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions