Deposition (law)

In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada, where it is called examination for discovery, and is almost always conducted outside of court by the lawyers themselves (that is, the judge is not present to supervise the examination). In other countries, testimony is usually preserved for future use by way of live testimony in the courtroom, or by way of written affidavit.

Some states will also refer to the deposition as an "examination before trial" (EBT). Deposition is the preferred term in U.S. federal courts and in the majority of U.S. states, such as California, because depositions are sometimes taken during trial in a number of unusual situations. For example, in certain states such as California and New York, the litigation process may be drastically accelerated if the plaintiff is dying from a terminal illness.

Depositions are a part of the discovery process in which litigants gather information in preparation for trial. Some jurisdictions recognise an affidavit as a form of deposition, sometimes called a "deposition upon written questions." This developed in Canada and the United States in the nineteenth century. While in common law jurisdictions such as England and Wales, Australia, and New Zealand recording the oral evidence of supporting witnesses ('obtaining a statement') is routine during pre-litigation investigations, having the right to pose oral questions to the opposing party's witnesses before trial is not.

In almost all cases pending in United States federal courts, depositions are carried out under Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. About 35 states use versions of the FRCP in their state courts. Other states have discovery rules that are set out either in court rules or statutes, and which vary somewhat from one state to another. According to FRCP Rule 30, the number of depositions is limited to 10 depositions per side (i.e. plaintiffs and defendants), with deposition of each deponent limited to 1 day of 7 hours (unless specified otherwise in Local Rules of the District).

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