Request for Production

A Request for Production (often called an "RFP") is a formal written demand sent during the discovery phase of a lawsuit, asking the other side to hand over documents, emails, photographs, personnel files, product records, or other tangible items. The receiving party generally has 30 days under most court rules to respond, either by producing the materials, objecting, or stating that nothing responsive exists.

Origin

The procedural tool was formalized in the United States by Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, adopted in 1938, and parallel rules exist in every state court system. The 2006 amendments to Rule 34 expanded it to cover electronically stored information (ESI) such as email and digital records.

Significance in Asbestos Context

For someone with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, Requests for Production are how the legal team forces former employers, manufacturers, and insurers to turn over the evidence that proves the patient was exposed to a defendant's asbestos-containing product. Typical requests seek product specifications, internal corporate memos about asbestos hazards, industrial hygiene surveys, sales and shipping records to specific job sites, insurance policies, and historical safety bulletins. Many of the most damning corporate documents in asbestos history, including the Sumner Simpson papers and internal Johns-Manville memos, surfaced through Requests for Production. On the patient's side, the defense will almost certainly serve RFPs seeking the patient's medical records, employment history, military records, tax returns, and Social Security earnings statements, so it is important to start gathering and preserving these documents early.

Example Sentence

After filing the lawsuit, the law firm served a Request for Production on the boiler manufacturer demanding all shipping invoices to the Philadelphia Navy Yard between 1955 and 1972, the years the patient worked there as a pipefitter.

Related Terms

Discovery, Interrogatories, Deposition, Subpoena, Spoliation, Protective Order

Notes

• Begin collecting your own documents now (W-2s, union cards, Social Security earnings statement (Form SSA-7050), military DD-214, photographs from job sites, and any product names you remember) because your attorney will need them to respond to the defense's RFPs.
• Ask your attorney what documents have already been produced in prior asbestos cases against the same defendants; large document depositories exist and may already contain key corporate records.
• Do not throw away or alter anything potentially relevant once a case is contemplated; destroying responsive materials can trigger "spoliation" sanctions against your side.
• If a defendant claims documents are lost, destroyed, or privileged, your attorney can challenge those responses and ask the court to compel production or impose sanctions.