LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW. LEARN AS IF YOU WERE TO LIVE FOREVER (GANDHI)
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Question of the day for June 13, 2018
Does a party have an obligation under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to supplement their deposition testimony after the transcript has been delivered to the counsel who noticed the deposition, but before trial?
It depends. FRCP Rule 26(e) requires a party to supplement its deposition testimony "if the party learns that in some material respect the disclosure or response is incomplete or incorrect, and if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing." Expert witnesses must also supplement their deposition testimony if there have been any changes or additions to the information they relied on in forming their expert opinion.
This rule specifically addresses supplementing disclosures and responses to an interrogatory, request for production, or request for admission, but I believe the same principle applies to depositions.
The obligation is only created if the party has reason to believe that the answers given in testimony is incorrect or incomplete. For expert witnesses this is also the case that they have a duty to update if any of their finding changed based upon new information that causes their original testimony to be incorrect. Both situations a rare occurrences.
Rule 30 governs depositions and it is silent on this issue, with very little case law as well. As a consequence, in Utah, the practice is that no one supplements their deposition testimony unless they absolutely need to in order to get their deposition in. Other rules in the FRCP require this for certain documents but depositions remain silent.
Although the rules require supplements for a number of other discovery issues (i.e. initial disclosures, expert reports, etc.), as we discussed in class, Rule 30 does not specifically outline that parties have to supplement their depositions prior to trial.
Didn't we address this in class today? The rules are silent on the issue. They say other forms of disclosure and discovery must be supplemented, but Rule 30 does not say anything about supplementing.
It depends. FRCP Rule 26(e) requires a party to supplement its deposition testimony "if the party learns that in some material respect the disclosure or response is incomplete or incorrect, and if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing."
ReplyDeleteExpert witnesses must also supplement their deposition testimony if there have been any changes or additions to the information they relied on in forming their expert opinion.
This rule specifically addresses supplementing disclosures and responses to an interrogatory, request for production, or request for admission, but I believe the same principle applies to depositions.
DeleteThe obligation is only created if the party has reason to believe that the answers given in testimony is incorrect or incomplete. For expert witnesses this is also the case that they have a duty to update if any of their finding changed based upon new information that causes their original testimony to be incorrect. Both situations a rare occurrences.
ReplyDeleteRule 30 governs depositions and it is silent on this issue, with very little case law as well. As a consequence, in Utah, the practice is that no one supplements their deposition testimony unless they absolutely need to in order to get their deposition in. Other rules in the FRCP require this for certain documents but depositions remain silent.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the rules require supplements for a number of other discovery issues (i.e. initial disclosures, expert reports, etc.), as we discussed in class, Rule 30 does not specifically outline that parties have to supplement their depositions prior to trial.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we address this in class today? The rules are silent on the issue. They say other forms of disclosure and discovery must be supplemented, but Rule 30 does not say anything about supplementing.
ReplyDelete