Litigation Lawyers in Bloomingdale

Civil depositions happen during civil litigation in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. They are part of the discovery procedure.

"Discovery" is a procedure that happens before a trial in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. 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 Bloomingdale, New Jersey 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 Bloomingdale, New Jersey

If the parties believe that a witness in Bloomingdale, New Jersey won't be able to show up in court to testify during trial, because of age, bad health, upcoming military deployment, possible incarceration, or any other reason, a deposition is a very good way to get their testimony on the record before the trial. Also, if they have to be questioned for several days, it is a good way to save the court's time.

Bloomingdale, New Jersey 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 Bloomingdale, New Jersey civil deposition, this could prove to be incredibly inconvenient.

To mitigate this, the law of Bloomingdale, New Jersey usually entitles people being deposed to reimbursement. They can be compensated for travel expenses, lodging, and a can be given a small amount of money simply for their time. However, this is meant to be reimbursement for the time and expense incurred in attending a deposition, and it is most definitely not payment for the witness to provide testimony that's favorable to one side or the other.

Remember, when you give a deposition in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, you're under oath. This means that you are under an absolute requirement to tell the truth. If you deliberately lie while under oath, you are committing perjury. Perjury is a serious crime, and can be punished by fines and imprisonment.

How Can A Bloomingdale, New Jersey Lawyer Help?

If you are the plaintiff or defendant in a lawsuit, you almost definitely already have a Bloomingdale, New Jersey lawyer. If either party to the lawsuit calls you for a deposition, your lawyer will have plenty of advice for you. You should, of course, follow that advice to the letter.

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 Bloomingdale, New Jersey 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.