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Civil Litigation -
Depositions Discovery

Northern California Civil Litigation Information

Another type of discovery is the deposition. This might be something you have seen on television. A deposition is an oral interrogation of a witness under oath. Each party's attorney may depose the other parties. Your attorney may also depose witnesses who are not parties to the case, for example, independent eyewitnesses.

Depositions usually take place in the office of the attorney who is going to take the deposition. If your attorney wants to depose the other party, he mails a "Notice of Deposition," which may include a request for documents to be examined at the deposition.

All parties are entitled to attend any deposition, unless otherwise ordered by the court. Usually, the only people who attend a deposition are the attorneys, the deponent (the witness who is getting deposed), and of course, the court reporter who transcribes the entire deposition. After the deposition is concluded, the court reporter prepares a transcript of the deposition and allows the deponent an opportunity to review it and make changes, if necessary. If substantive changes are made to the testimony (as opposed to spelling corrections or other minor errors), then any of the attorneys might be entitled to re-depose the witness concerning the changes and any affected testimony.

Depositions increase the cost of litigation. First of all, the attorney has to spend substantial time preparing for the deposition by, among other things, reviewing relevant documents, preparing an outline of questions to ask at the deposition, appearing at the deposition, and then briefly summarizing the deposition. Depending on the complexity of the case and the amount of documentation involved, an attorney can spend anywhere from a few hours to several days on one deposition. On top of that, the attorney who takes the deposition must pay for the court reporter, and any party who wants a transcript must also pay for that as well.

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