Is that video taped deposition really worth it? Yes it is!

Last week, we deposed the Plaintiff in a race discrimination case we were defending.  She made an embarrassing handwritten notation on a document.  When asked if that was her handwriting, she danced.  She said, she was not sure.  She could not remember.  It looked like her handwriting, she said, but she did not remember ever writing that.  All on video.  We pressed for the answer to the question – “Do you admit or deny that you made that note on that paper?”  What happened next would have been lost forever, but for the video.  Her face crinkled.  She looked around.  She looked at the paper and then looked away.  Time passed.  She squirmed some more.  Then, finally, the admission.  “Yes.  I wrote that!”

We almost always video tape party depositions, and if you are not already doing that, you should probably make it your practice as well.  When one of those moments happens, it is never going to happen again.  There is no re-creating it.   You either captured it or you did not.  

The Plaintiff dismissed that case last week following the deposition.