All Depositions Are For Use At Trial

This article is reprinted with permission from the January 28, 2008 issue of The Legal Intelligencer. © 2008 ALM Properties Inc. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Discovery depositions are one of the primary tools utilized to place civil suits in an advantageous posture for trial. In this regard, discovery depositions have always afforded parties the opportunity to compile transcripts, the pages from which serve as trial exhibits to be published in court either as an admission, or as a means of reminding a witness of a prior inconsistent statement. However, as video discovery depositions become more prevalent in practice, the factors that distinguish a pretrial video discovery deposition from a video deposition for use at trial are becoming more difficult to identify.