Litigation Lawyers in Butler County

Depositions are part of the discovery procedure in Butler County, Pennsylvania civil litigation.

In Butler County, Pennsylvania, "discovery" is a procedure that happens before a civil trial, during which both sides are obligated to disclose relevant evidence to the other.

One of the most effective ways to receive information relevant to a lawsuit in Butler County, 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 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 Butler County, Pennsylvania

Depositions in Butler County, Pennsylvania serve a very significant purpose: receiving testimony on the record, and admitted as evidence, when there is some reason to suspect that the witness won't be able to appear in court during trial, because of health, possible incarceration, or any other reason.

So, it shouldn't be astonishing that civil depositions in Butler County, Pennsylvania can generally go on for several days. If you are subpoenaed for a deposition in , Pennsylvania, you are normally obligated to appear. This can be a source of some inconvenience.

To help mitigate this inconvenience, Butler County, Pennsylvania authorizes 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.

When giving a deposition in Butler County, Pennsylvania, be sure to answer all of the questions honestly, and to the absolute best of your knowledge. You will be sworn in before the deposition starts, and you will be under oath, just as if you were in open court. Therefore, if you lie, you are committing perjury, which can land you in jail.

How Can A Butler County, Pennsylvania Lawyer Help?

If you're a party to a Butler County, Pennsylvania lawsuit and are obligated 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 likely don't need to hire a Butler County, 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.