Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
I filed a civil suit. The defendant responded. Is it now unlawful for me to contact the defendant before the discovery process begins?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No, unless he has a restraining order against you. But if he or his lawyer has asked you not to call, you may want to do as he says.
You MAY want to abide by a lawyer's request not to contact his client, but you are under no obligation to do so. The only rule against contact with parties to a lawsuit is that one lawyer cannot contact another lawyer's client without permission of the other lawyer. Lawyers can contact unrepresented parties and the parties are free to contact each other at any time throughout the lawsuit, so long as the contact would not amount to harassment or stalking regardless of whether there was a lawsuit or not.