Litigation Lawyers in Mount Carmel

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

"Discovery" is a process that occurs before a trial in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. During the discovery process, both sides are required to make relevant information available to each other.

In Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, one way to get this information is to find the people involved in the dispute (whether they're witnesses or parties), and ask them questions about the issues you believe them to have knowledge of. A civil deposition is typically a pretty simple process: the person being deposed is sworn in (they are under oath, just as if they were in a courtroom). Because the whole point of a deposition is to get testimony on the record, a stenographer or video technician will also be present, recording the whole deposition. The lawyer then asks questions of the witness, and the lawyers for the other side are able to object to specific lines of questioning, if they wish.

Conducting A Civil Deposition in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania

Depositions in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania are meant to get verbal testimony on the record and into evidence, when there is concern that the person 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.

It should not be any surprise, then, that civil depositions in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania can go on for a very long time. If you are called to appear in a deposition in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, this can be a huge headache.

Therefore, Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania's civil procedure rules permit a person to be compensated for the time and money they spend in appearing at a deposition. If the witness lives far away from the location of the deposition, as is sometimes the case in large trials, they can be reimbursed for travel and lodging expenses, and compensated for their time. However, this money cannot be used to influence HOW they testify, just to mitigate the inconvenience associated with testifying.

If you are called to a deposition in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, it's absolutely imperative that you answer all the questions truthfully, to the best of your knowledge. When testifying in a deposition, you are under oath, just as you would be in open court. Deliberately lying in a deposition is perjury, which is a serious crime.

How Can A Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania Lawyer Help?

If you are the plaintiff or defendant in a lawsuit, you almost certainly already have a Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania 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 a lawsuit in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, but have knowledge about some of the facts that are at issue in a pending case, you might still be called to appear in a deposition. In that case, you probably don't need to hire a lawyer.