Would Sanctioning Bad Behavior During Depositions Increase Civility?

By Sam Laurin, Bose McKinney & Evans LLP

Depositions are a common day occurrence. Most lawyers understand that the objections beyond form, privileged communications and trade secrets are generally not allowed and instructing not to answer is limited to privilege and trade secrets. Lawyers defending depositions coach witnesses all of the time even though it is improper. Yet case law and the state and local rules provide very little teeth to address a lawyer behaving badly in a deposition. This decision article describes a judge in Delaware who took action relative to repeated and unfounded objections. In the author's opinion, civility would actually increase in the long run if lawyers knew they could be sanctioned for repeated bad conduct in a deposition; conduct which most would never dare try in a hearing or trial.

Please note: This article reflects the view of the author and not the IndyBar. 

This article was written by Sam Laurin of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP. If you would like to submit content or write an article for the Litigation Section page, please email Rachel Beachy at rbeachy@indybar.org.