Litigation Lawyers in Rogers

In Rogers, Arkansas, a civil deposition is a part of the discovery procedure in civil litigation.

"Discovery" is a procedure that happens before a trial in Rogers, Arkansas. During the discovery process, both sides are obligated to make relevant information available to each other.

One of the most effective ways to receive information relevant to a lawsuit in Rogers, Arkansas is to conduct a deposition of a party who you believe to be privy to that information. A deposition is a Q&A session between an attorney representing one of the parties to a lawsuit, and someone who has knowledge relevant to the lawsuit. This can be one of the parties, or a witness. The individual being deposed is sworn in, and must answer all of the questions presented to them under oath. An attorney representing the other side can object to lines of questioning, on every grounds that would be valid during in-court testimony. The purpose of this is mainly to get the objection on the record, but if it proves to be a major sticking point, a judge can rule on the objections later. If any questions are found to be invalid, the questions, and their answers, will not be shown to the jury during trial. This is much more effective than simply instructing the jury to disregard a question and answer they've already heard.

Conducting A Civil Deposition in Rogers, Arkansas

Depositions in Rogers, Arkansas are meant to get verbal testimony on the record and into evidence, when there is concern that the individual being deposed might be unable to show up and testify at trial, or their testimony will take far too long for them to testify at trial.

Rogers, Arkansas civil depositions can go on for a long time - sometimes going for a week or more. If you get subpoenaed to provide your testimony in a Rogers, Arkansas civil deposition, this could prove to be incredibly inconvenient.

To help mitigate this inconvenience, Rogers, Arkansas permits witnesses who are appearing in depositions to be paid a set amount of money for their time, and reimbursed for travel expenses. However, if there is any evidence that this money is being used to influence a witness' testimony, there is going to be a significant problem: this would amount bribery, and it is a serious offense.

In Rogers, Arkansas depositions, everyone being deposed is under oath. This means that you are legally and morally obligated to answer every question truthfully. If you deliberately misrepresent your knowledge (lie), you are guilty of perjury. And if you're caught, you could end up facing jail time and/or some extremely steep fines.

How Can A Rogers, Arkansas Lawyer Help?

If you are a party to a lawsuit, and are subpoenaed to a deposition, chances are you're already represented by a , Arkansas attorney. Obviously, you should follow their advice with respect to the deposition.

If you're not a party to the case, but have relevant information, you might be subpoenaed to appear in a deposition. In this case, you likely don't need to hire a Rogers, Arkansas litigation attorney, but it would not be a bad idea to seek out a brief consultation with one, to get an idea of what to expect.