Personal injury deposition questions are common following the filing of a personal injury lawsuit after a car accident. Insurance companies usually require the deposition of all parties involved in a car accident, including the parties to lawsuit as well as witnesses to the accident and sometimes expert witnesses as well.
Where and How the Deposition Takes Place
Insurance companies hire attorneys to represent them in lawsuits and the deposition will usually take place at the attorney’s office. There will be a court reporter present to make a record of every word spoken during the deposition by anyone in the room. The court reporter transcribes the conversations and provides a typed manuscript of the deposition to all the parties who request a copy. The transcript can be used in court as proof of testimony and if a person testifies in court, a deposition transcript can be used to show the court that a person has given conflicting testimony if the witness or party does not answer questions consistently. A person answering questions in a deposition is required to take an oath to tell the truth and failure to tell the truth during a deposition is considered perjury (as it would be if a person lied in court).
Review Details of the Accident Before the Deposition
When preparing for a deposition, it is important to review the facts of the accident such as:
- Time of day of the accident
- Where the accident took place
- Witnesses to the accident
- Where the accident victim was traveling from and to
- How fast each vehicle was traveling just before the accident
- When the driver applied the brakes
- Whether the driver was eating, talking on the phone, or otherwise distracted
- The weather conditions at the time of the accident
- The type and color of all the vehicles in the accident
- Proximity of the vehicles to each other and road signals
Honesty Really is the Best Policy in a Deposition
It is critical to an accident victim’s case that the person testifying in a deposition be honest in answering all questions. It is far better for a deponent (the person providing testimony in a deposition) to testify that he “doesn’t know” than to guess or to make up an answer. A good insurance attorney will use the deposition testimony to present credibility issues by asking the same questions in court. A deponent who answers truthfully will not have to worry about remembering what he answered during the deposition and cannot be tricked by a sly attorney.
Getting Legal Help
An experienced personal injury attorney can help an accident victim, or witness through the deposition process and can even provide a practice deposition beforehand to make the deponent more comfortable answering questions. An attorney will also object if the insurance attorney asks questions that are outside the scope of the accident and will protect the deponent’s rights.
