Litigation Lawyers in North Kingstown

Depositions are part of the discovery process in North Kingstown, Rhode Island civil litigation.

"Discovery" is a process that occurs before a trial in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. During the discovery process, both sides are required to make relevant information available to each other.

One of the most effective ways to acquire information relevant to a lawsuit in North Kingstown, Rhode Island 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 North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Depositions in North Kingstown, Rhode Island serve a very important purpose: acquiring 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, potential incarceration, or any other reason.

Civil Depositions in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, can take a very long time to be completed, normally lasting several days, and sometimes going on for weeks. So, people who are called to give depositions in North Kingstown, Rhode Island should be prepared for some considerable inconvenience.

To mitigate this, the law of North Kingstown, Rhode Island 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.

When giving a deposition in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 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 begins, 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 North Kingstown, Rhode Island Lawyer Help?

If you're a party to a North Kingstown, Rhode Island 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 a lawsuit in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 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.