Litigation Lawyers in Archbald

Depositions are part of the discovery process in Archbald, Pennsylvania civil litigation.

In Archbald, Pennsylvania, "discovery" is a process that occurs before a civil trial, during which both sides are required to disclose relevant evidence to the other.

One of the most effective ways to acquire information relevant to a lawsuit in Archbald, Pennsylvania 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 person 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 primarily 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 Archbald, Pennsylvania

In Archbald, Pennsylvania, the main reason to conduct a deposition, as opposed to having someone testify in court, is to save time. After days of depositions, the jury can be presented with just the relevant testimony, if the case goes to trial. Furthermore, it's a good idea to conduct a deposition if there's any reason to believe that the witness will not be able to show up to court to testify, due to poor health, or any other reason.

Archbald, Pennsylvania civil depositions can go on for a long time - occasionally going for a week or more. If you get subpoenaed to give your testimony in an Archbald, Pennsylvania civil deposition, this could prove to be incredibly inconvenient.

To mitigate this, the law of Archbald, Pennsylvania normally 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 give testimony that's beneficial to one side or the other.

Remember, when you give a deposition in Archbald, Pennsylvania, you're under oath. This means that you are under an absolute obligation 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 Archbald, Pennsylvania Lawyer Help?

If you're a party to an Archbald, Pennsylvania lawsuit and are required to appear at a deposition, one would hope that you've already retained a lawyer by this stage in the proceedings. Your attorney will have a lot of advice for you, which you should of course follow.

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 probably don't need to hire an Archbald, Pennsylvania 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.