All personal injury claims are built on material case facts and documentation. Even when a trial attorney is crafting a case for presentation before a jury,
they will still want documentation supporting some of the elements of the claim they could be discussing in the trial. Among those documentation tools are depositions. Depositions serve a definitive purpose in legal application, and both sides to a legal dispute have the right to use them regarding case facts. Each side is given an equal amount of depositions in the discovery process for the purposes of fairness and swiftness in allowing for a quicker end to a legal dispute. A deposition is a recorded interview with a witness in a legal matter that is intended to provide specific information and help with establishing the assertions of either party. However, depositions can be much different from a witness testifying in a hearing where revealing surprising information in a trial could lead to a reversal of the anticipated outcome for either party. They can give consistency to the material case facts, and are especially effective with medical evidence. Every North Carolina law firm uses them for these reasons, along with convenience in arriving at the truth in any particular case.

Location

One of the best advantages of conducting a deposition before a trial is the time and place at which it occurs. Although all depositions are done through a court subpoena, they can be held at any particular location outside the courtroom. This location is generally determined and agreed upon by the lawyers to both parties and is often in the court reporter’s office or at the office of either representing North Carolina law firm. This allows for a somewhat less formal proceeding, but they can still be very intense undertakings in dynamic cases when all parties are present at the time. They are recorded for the sake of evidence preservation and case review when a settlement between the parties could be reached.

Witnesses who are being deposed are generally prepared by their lawyer for questioning so often know exactly what they will be asked, but not always. More often than not, the deponent will be questioned by the opposing party legal counsel who is trying to extract certain details that have not been discussed or catch the witness when they could be presenting conflicting testimony. Objections are allowed from legal representatives, but deponents typically must still answer all questions unless they have a constitutional or self-incrimination concern. This is why it is very important for legal counsel on both sides to be present. Recording the deposition actually helps reduce witness badgering from aggressive attorneys, and there are no time restrictions for the most part when there is extensive evidence to be uncovered.

Expert Testimony Depositions

While any witness to an accident injury case can be requested for deposition, many injury cases actually hinge on the expert testimony provided by attending physicians or other medical professionals such as psychologists when mental anguish is an element of a financial recovery award. An experienced trial attorney from a North Carolina law firm will understand how to use expert deposition testimony in establishing facts concerning diagnosis and long-term prognosis of an injury rehabilitation process if the injury is in fact recoverable.

Medical professional statements and opinions are considered expert testimony unless they have a conflict of interest, but they can also be cross-examined by defending legal representatives as well when the evidence or opinion is being contested. This is also often done with additional depositions from other countering medical professionals. One of the best advantages of expert depositions is that they give certainty to cases where questions still exist, and the information provided in any deposition can lead to a settlement in the case when the outcome of a trial is obvious for all involved parties.