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Depositions: Statutes, Cases, Rules & Tips

Accessible by clicking below is a PDF version of a two-page summary of important deposition law.  Included are statutes, cases, and applicable rules covering objections, permissible areas of questioning, interpreter qualifications, who may attend a deposition, harassing questions, etc.  This is a useful document to print-out and use if you are an attorney and either taking or defending a deposition, as the specific legal cites for the various points are all listed.

Here is a small excerpt:

IMPROPER CONDUCT BY DEPONENT’S COUNSEL
• Coaching: Coaching the deponent is potentially sanctionable as a discovery abuse under CCP § 2023.010, Tucker v. Pacific Bell Mobile Services, 186 Cal.App.4th 1548, 1562 (2010). Unilaterally going off the record is not allowed. CCP § 2025.470.

• Making Improper Objections: “Making, without substantial justification, an unmeritorious objection to discovery” is a sanctionable misuse of the discovery process. CCP § 2023.010(e).

• Instructing Witness Not to Answer: Normally improper for counsel to instruct witness not to answer a question. Stewart v. Colonial Western Agency, Inc., 87 Cal.App.4th 1006, 1015 (2001). Defects in the form of the question are not grounds for instruction not to answer. Id., at 1014. Deposing counsel may suspend or complete deposition and later seek order compelling

answer. CCP § 2025.460(d) Exception: May instruct deponent not to answer, suspend deposition and move for protective if examination “being conducted in bad faith or in a manner that unreasonably annoys, embarrasses, or oppresses that deponent or party.” CCP §§ 2025.470; 2025.420(b).

*** CLICK PDF LINK BELOW – “Deposition Law Overview 2015” – for a 2-page reference guide. ***

Deposition Objections Overview 2015 revision