§ 2036.010.Persons permitted to obtain discovery; scope and restrictions

Chapter 20 is the mirror image of Chapter 19, built for the other end of a lawsuit's life instead of the beginning. This section opens it by defining the trigger: a party may use this chapter's procedure once an appeal has been taken from a judgment the trial court entered, or, even before an appeal is filed, at any point while the time to take one has not yet run out. Either way, the case has already reached judgment, so this chapter has nothing to do with discovery during the case itself, that runs under the ordinary discovery rules, and everything to do with what happens after.

The purpose matches that later stage of the case: perpetuating testimony or preserving information for use if there are further proceedings in the court that entered the judgment, most often a retrial after a reversal or remand, where witnesses might no longer be available or evidence might no longer exist by the time the case comes back. The scope of what can be discovered tracks the general discovery scope rules, and the same restrictions that limit discovery in a pending case apply here too, so this chapter expands when discovery is available, not what can be discovered.