In civil litigation, depositions are a key pretrial discovery tool used to uncover facts, obtain admissions, gather evidence for motions, and assess witnesses. They prevent “trial by ambush” by revealing crucial information...more
We’ve written previously about sanctions that trial courts can impose on parties that, for no good reason, fail to appear for a properly noticed deposition. Courts are understandably impatient with parties that throw sand in...more
Jury trials are expensive. They disrupt jurors’ lives for days or weeks,. They demand the complete attention of court personnel. They require witnesses to make time for court appearances and travel to and from the courthouse....more
I. THE USE OF REMOTE PROCEEDINGS IN CIVIL PRACTICE - The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on civil litigation in Illinois, particularly by increasing the use of remote proceedings in Illinois circuit courts. A....more
Rule 202 refers to the pre-suit deposition rule in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. This rule allows a person or party involved in a dispute to request deposition – sworn testimony recorded by a court reporter – to...more
In Stratford v. Umpqua Bank, No. 100717-5 (Sept. 14, 2023) (slip op.), the Washington Supreme Court rejected the application of the “apex doctrine” in Washington. The apex doctrine has been adopted by some jurisdictions to...more
Summer is over and court administrators are back at work, churning out proposals for streamlining litigation and increasing the constructive use of remote technologies to handle judicial business. This blog post identifies...more
In the federal system, deposition testimony often provides crucial evidentiary support for summary judgment motions— a key procedural device for narrowing contested issues that require trial or, in some cases, eliminating the...more
Ever since the Uniform Law Commission published the Uniform Interstate Discovery and Depositions Act in 2007, the disinterest among Texas lawmakers to adopt the law has been both a curiosity and, to a small extent, a failure...more
Massachusetts appears poised to become the latest jurisdiction to permanently embrace — and regulate — the practice of conducting pretrial discovery with remote depositions. A public comment period recently closed on a...more
Until very recently, the rule in many jurisdictions was that any individual could attend a deposition unless the trial court ordered otherwise. Some litigators brought expert witnesses to the deposition of the opposing...more
If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to create a “video deposition” merely by recording a Zoom call, you’re not alone. After all, the litigators and witnesses, and the court reporter, are present, their voices and...more
Earlier this month the Florida Supreme Court ordered sweeping changes to that state’s court rules, giving technology-driven virtual hearings and remote depositions a permanent role in the state’s judicial processes....more
The Supreme Court of Georgia recently issued a decision on whether the Apex Doctrine - a theory under which high-ranking corporate executives and government officials may not be compelled to sit for depositions if they lack...more
On June 1, 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling that has the potential to significantly impact discovery in Georgia courts. In Gen. Motors, LLC v. Buchanan, No. S21G1147, 2022 WL 1750716 (Ga. June 1, 2022), the...more
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC’S IMPACT ON CIVIL PRACTICE The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on civil litigation in Illinois. Since March 2020, the Governor of Illinois and Illinois courts of all levels have...more
The rules governing the manner in which depositions are conducted in Florida may soon be changing. Proposed new court rules would limit the types of objections attorneys can legally make during depositions, restrict their...more
On Aug. 26, by a majority of 6–1, the Florida Supreme Court adopted, effective immediately, a new Florida Rule of Civil Procedure, codifying a long-recognized protection for high-level government officials and extending that...more
Late last month, the Florida Supreme Court codified into Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(h) the “apex doctrine” and declared the doctrine applies with equal force to high-ranking corporate and government officials....more
Remote depositions became more prevalent during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But when court reporters refused to use video to record depositions because they were not certified to do so, some attorneys took the job...more
Whether it’s during a deposition or during trial, the job of preserving errors for judicial review is a vital part of the litigator’s professional obligation to his or her client. Many trial outcomes turn on evidentiary...more
My daughter is a figure skater — the kind of skater who practices six days a week. Each one of the complex jumps that a skater executes involves dozens of fine-motor movements that need to be encoded into the skater’s muscle...more
The New York Commercial Division was created in 1993 “to test whether it would be possible, by concentrating on commercial litigation, to improve the efficiency with which such matters were addressed by the court and, at the...more
Under Massachusetts procedure, a party has the right to compel an opponent to disclose its testifying expert’s opinions through interrogatories. But unlike federal procedure, a party under Massachusetts procedure must obtain...more
In In the Estate of Nicholas, the temporary administrator of an estate and the decedent’s mother filed a Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 202 petition concerning a shootout at a residence by the City of Houston Police...more