(a) In any civil action, the court, upon motion of either party, may order disclosure of facts or disclosure, production and inspection of papers, books or documents by any party thereto, material to the moving party's cause of action or defense, and within the knowledge, possession or power of the adverse party.
(b) The judges of the Supreme Court shall make rules to carry out the provisions of this section.
(1949 Rev., S. 7949; 1957, P.A. 651, S. 30; P.A. 82-160, S. 97.)
History: P.A. 82-160 rephrased the section and inserted Subsec. indicators.
Discovery to be responsive to the motion. 20 C. 486. Cited. 59 C. 243; Id., 508. Applies only where the matter lies within the exclusive knowledge or possession of the adverse party. 61 C. 594; 90 C. 261. Statute simply designed to enable a court of law to exercise clearly defined powers of a court of equity. 61 C. 596. Cited. 63 C. 569. Form of motion. 77 C. 387. Right of court to compel production of documents on trial. 79 C. 121. Errors in action on demurrer to motion waived by replacing it with another. 90 C. 270. Denial of motion addressed to defense that would be unavailing is harmless. 91 C. 554. Where demurrer to complaint is sustained and plaintiff does not plead over, motion does not lie. 95 C. 301. Cited. 125 C. 9. Does not abrogate independent action for discovery in equity. 126 C. 386. A trial tests the court's ruling on a motion for disclosure for it then appears whether the mover was hampered in the preparation and presentation of his case by the denial of his motion. 147 C. 321. Party cannot assert lack of notice to produce or want of a subpoena duces tecum if, by his own testimony, either would have been futile. Id., 496. An answer to an interrogatory is not, without more, a judicial admission in the same sense as admissions in the pleadings or in open court. 148 C. 202. Cited. 212 C. 661; 229 C. 716; 230 C. 1.
Cited. 4 CA 339; 14 CA 267.
Motion to inspect a trolley car is not within statute. 5 CS 161. Cited. Id., 291. An independent equitable action for discovery may be maintained notwithstanding section. 7 CS 76. Cited. 8 CS 137; Id., 246; 9 CS 44. The facts desired by defendant to be disclosed by plaintiff must be material to defendant's cause. 16 CS 54. Disclosure may be ordered as to any matter concerned solely with damages as well as to issues of liability. 17 CS 40. Cited. 19 CS 147. Disclosure of written statements of witnesses and defendants refused. 21 CS 165. Disclosure of whether there is liability insurance, and the amount and terms thereof, held not within the rules of disclosure. Id., 168. Connecticut's disclosure rules are not as broad as the federal rules; court refused request for pretrial disclosure of confidential corporate information required to establish damages before the right to obtain damages of any kind had been proved. Id., 170. In a criminal case, the accused cannot compel the prosecution to produce documents which he himself has made; furthermore, facts sought to be disclosed must be shown to be exclusively within the knowledge of the state. 23 CS 41. Plaintiff alleging loss of earnings not required to produce copies of income tax returns. 25 CS 147. Cited. 26 CS 338; 28 CS 53. When discovery not available in appeal from administrative agency. 30 CS 299. Cited. 31 CS 129. Motion not allowed where an overwhelming volume of inquiry was proposed and the information was obtainable from other defendants. Id., 335. Discovery is available in summary process proceeding. 36 CS 47.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
15
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1960–2021 · leading case:
State v. Clemente, 353 A.2d 723 (Conn. 1974).
State v. Clemente, 353 A.2d 723 (Conn. 1974).
· cites it 8× “[1] Until now that power of the General Assembly to enact such legislation has never been challenged as either beyond *527 the legislative domain or in contravention of article second of the Connecticut constitution. This legislative sanction has been continued until the present…”
Cimino v. Cimino, 164 A.3d 787 (Conn. App. Ct. 2017).
· cites it 4× “Until and unless the trial court opened the previous judgment, there would be no civil action within the meaning of General Statutes § 52-197 or Practice Book § [13-2].”
Bruno v. Bruno, 76 A.3d 725 (Conn. App. Ct. 2013).
· cites it 4× “2 (“For us to say that [the discovery] provisions [of General Statutes § 52-197 [a] and Practice Book § 13-2] apply only when there is a cause of action currently pending is to state the obvious.”
Oneglia v. Oneglia, 540 A.2d 713 (Conn. App. Ct. 1988).
· cites it 4× “) Practice Book § 218 provides in relevant part: “In any civil action . . . where the court finds it reasonably probable that evi *270 dence outside the record will be required, a party may obtain .”
Fishman v. Middlesex Mut. Assurance Co., 494 A.2d 606 (Conn. App. Ct. 1985).
· cites it 2× “” Practice Book §§ 218, 223, 227, 229; see also General Statutes § 52-197. The defendant, therefore, was not entitled to compliance with its discovery requests or a ruling on them before the plaintiff’s claim was adjudicated.”
Aqleh v. Cadlerock Jt. Venture II, L.P., 10 A.3d 498 (Conn. 2010).
· cites it 2× “General Statutes § 52-197 (a), for example, *95 provides in relevant part that “[i]n any civil action, the court, upon motion of either party, may order disclosure of facts,” indicating the legislature’s clear intent that a motion for disclosure occurs in or during a civil…”
Hous. Auth. v. Boyd, 410 A.2d 494 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1979).
· cites it 4× “The issue succinctly posed is whether discovery, by virtue of General Statutes § 52-197 and Practice Book, 1978, § 218, is available in summary process proceedings.”
Graham v. Houlihan, 160 A.2d 745 (Conn. 1960).
· cites it 2× “Practice Book §§ 70, 73; •General Statutes § 52-197. A ruling on such a motion is within the sound discretion of the court.”
Veneziano v. Veneziano, 259 A.3d 28 (Conn. App. Ct. 2021).
· cites it 4× “General Statutes § 52-197 (a) provides in relevant part: ‘‘In any civil action, the court, upon motion of either party, may order disclosure .”
Lamar v. St. Mary's Hosp. Corp., 330 A.2d 107 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1974).
· cites it 2× “It is true that our discovery statute, G eneral Statutes § 52-197, is remedial in character and must therefore, of necessity, be liberally construed with the thought in mind that there is tp be provided thereby a more speedy and less expensive method than other proceedings — for…”
Brody v. Brody, 103 A.3d 981 (Conn. App. Ct. 2014).
· cites it 2× “The court also noted that both General Statutes § 52-197 (a) and Practice Book § 218 [now § 13-2] authorize a party to engage in discovery ‘‘[i]n any civil action,’’ stating that ‘‘[u]ntil and unless the trial court opened the previous judgment, there could be no ‘civil action’…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.