PostedwithpermissionofTRIAL(August2007). Five strategies ...

1 Pla int iff attor neyslitig ati ngaga in st big cor porations face thedau nti ngpro spect of fightinganop pon ent wi th many more re so ur ce s on ethat can af fo rd to impedeth ecas e spro gress and frustratethe plaint if f spur -su it of ju sti ce. Fo rt unately, th e Fe deralRul es of Civ il Procedurearm you andyo ur clie nt for just thi ssor tof fig le30(b )( 6) giv es you the oppo rt u-nit y to direc tl y qu est ion co rp ora te de -po ne nts or de po nentsfr om oth er or ga -niza tio nal enti tie saboutthe elem en ts ofthe cas e. And the rule req uir es the de -po nents to answeryour ques tio ns , pr o-vid ing yo u with strongam munition tofi ghtdisc ove ry the hear t of the rule is its req uir e-ment that, once yo u have give n the de-fe nd an t(o rany third-party co rpor ati ondep onent)notice of the dep osi ti on, itmu st des ignat e one or more peo ple tote st ify tothe mat te rs listed inth red topreparethos epeo ple soth ey can test ify onall the li sted ma tte rs.

2 1As the Ad vis ory Co mmittee on CivilRules of the U. S. Courts explained, Rule30( b)(6)has thre epur poses : to reduc ethe di ff icu lty adepos in glawy er enc ou nters in determinin g, be-for ethe depo si tio n, whet her aparti cul arempl oye eorag ent isa man ag in gag en t to curb thepra ct ice of b and yin g, whe re an entity s off icers or ma nagingage nt sar ede pos ed intur n,butea ch de-ni es kn owl ed ge of fa cts tha t ar e cl ea rl ykno wn to peop le in th eorg an iza ti on to assist ent it ie s that fin d an un-nec ess ari ly lar ge nu mbe r of their off i-ce rsand agen tsbein gde po sed byapar -ty un ce rtain of wh ointheorgan izat io nha sthe re lev an tkn ow le dg et he r the enti ty is a pub li c or pri -vat e cor por at ion, a partn er ship, an as -so ciatio n, or a go vern men t ag en cy , thede sign ati on of th ede pon en tal lo wsonepe rs on to sp eak for the ent ir eor gan iz a-ti depo nen t s tes ti mo ny repr e-se nt sthe kno wle dge of th een ti ty.

3 Not ofthe per son be ing dep ose d. By pl aci ngthe bur den of identifying res po nsi vewitne sse s on th e or ganiz ation , the rulestr eam line sthe dis cov ery pr oces a pl aint iff facin g a lar ge co rp o-rat e defen dan t an d seeki ng info rm a-ti on th at may res ide in mul tip ledep art -me nts unde rman ydiffe rent man age rs ,Ru le30( b)(6 )off ers an oppo rt unit ytoco nd uc t di sco ver y ef fici en tly . If youtake th e fo llo wing steps , you l l get thebest res ul ts from the depos it ion of thecorp orat edes ign the dep osin g par ty, you mustcraft ano ti ce of dep ositi on that id en ti -fi es the areas of inqui ry wi th reas on -abl e parti cu lar ity, but ther e is no re -qu iremen t that your noti ce be mo respeci fi cor lis teve ry que st ion you llask.

4 5If you ropponen t s def en ses are broad ,you rdepo sit io nnotice may besim ilar lybr oad . Becau se co urts dis ag ree as towh et her yo u may qu es ti on the dep on -en t on subje ct s th at were not enumer-ated in the dep osi ti on noti ce, yo ush ould cra ft your not ice to cove rall pos -si ble top ics of your juri sdicti on per mit s yo u toqu es ti on th edepo nen tonsubj ec tsthatwe re noten umerat ed inthedep osi tio nno ti ce, the ad di ti onal que st io ns mustcom ply withRu le 26 (b)(1 ). Als o,thede-pone nt is not requir ed to kn ow th e an-swers to quest ions outsi de the scopeofth e not ic e, and th e de po nent s ans wersto those que stionsdo not spea k for th eco mpa ny.

5 7 The fed eral rul es req uire that a dep -osit ion of an indiv idua l be con ducte din one day of sev en ho is ru lemightmakeyou cra ft a narr ow de posi (b)(6)depositionsADAMBLANK40|trialAugust 2007 Postedwithpermission of TRI AL (August 2007).Copyr ight the AmericanAssociationfor Justice(formerlythe Associationof Trial Lawyersof America).ti on no tic e intendedto coveronl y asman y sub jects as can be coveredin sev -enhou rs. Howe ver, accordingto th eAd -vi so ry Co mmit tee, [F]orpurposes ofth is durat ion al limit , the de positi on ofea ch persondesi gnatedunderRu le30(b )(6) shoul d be cons ide re d a se pa -rate deposi tion.

6 9If the defe ndan tdes -igna te s more than on e pe rson fo r you r30 (b )(6) depositi on, you may deposeea chperson for the defendantde signatesonly onepers on and yo u think you l l need mo rethan seven hoursfor his or her depos i-tio n,yo umust get the defendant satt or -ne y to agr ee to all ow the depo si tion tospan addit ional days or you ll ne ed to askth e cou rt fo r more time. Therefore, ifyo u belie ve yo u will requir e moretha nse ven hou rs to co nd uct your corporatedep osi tio n, you shoul d craft a no tic etha twill req uir ethe cor pora ti on to des -ign ate mo re than one de e rule re-qui res the corporationto des ignateade-pone nt who ca ntestifyto the know ledg eof the entire co mp any on ever yarea des -ig natedin your ecorporation must produceas ma ny de -pone nts asis ne cess ary to respo nd toth earea s of inquiry in your thedef end ant int en ds to design ate mor eth an one deponent.

7 It sh ou ld id ent ifyth em and des cr ibe the areas on whicheach per son wil e co rpor ate des igneene ed nothave fir sthandkn owle dge of theeven ts in que stion,bu t to ma ke th edepositionmea ningful, the desig ne emust be prepar ed to pro vide co m-pl ete ,kn owled gea bl e, and bi ndingan-sw ers on be hal f of the corporati on. 12 The des ig ne e s preparation shouldin-cl ude are view of prior fact witn ess de p-osit ion testi mon yaswell asdocumentsand depositi on exhib its, even if that re -vi ew wou ld be some cases,aparty may resist ide n-tif yi ng adep one nt ,forci ng the dep osingpar ty to pr ess the cour t to requireco m-pliancewit h the rul e.

8 Bec ausea30 (b )(6) deposit ion req uires the de-po nen ttoconductasig nifi cant amo un tof pre pa rat ion, th e defendant ma y ar -gue that you shouldbe re qui red topur -su eles sone ro us dis cov ery pr ac tic es .Fo r ex amp le, inVan Emon v. Stat eFarm Mu tual Aut omobile In su ran ce Co.,the plain tif f s 30(b )(6 ) deposition no -tice conc er ned St ate Farm shan dlin gofthe pl ai nti ff s insu ra nce cla im. The in -sur er obj ect ed to the pro posed depo si-tion, argu ing tha t it was stan da rd pra c-ti ce in no-f au lt liti gation to de po se th ecl ai ms rep re se nta ti ve withoutim po sing30(b)(6 )requ irem ents.

9 St at e Far m ma int ai ned that a cla imsrep re se nt ati ve cou ld not beco mpel ledto tes ti fy under Ru le 30(b )(6) becau sethe cl ai msrep resen tat ive was no tan of-ficer, di rect or , or managingagen t, an dif a 30( b) (6) dep ositi on wer e all owed ,St ate Farmmigh t be req uir ed to hav eth e cl aim s repr esen tat iv e edu cat e an -ot her per so n wh o wou ld testi fy to theclai ms rep res en tat ive s kno wled te Farmargu ed that th is educ ationpro ces s woul d be imp os sib le sin ce theclai m was 16 years old . The co ur t over -rul ed St ate Farm s ob ject ion , notingth at th e in su rer had point ed to no au -tho rity th at wou ld requir e the pla in ti ffto deposeafa ct witness instea dof aRule30(b)(6 )wit ness.

10 14If you ha ve alr ea dy de pos ed aco mpa -ny s em plo ye es ,wh at ha ppe ns if, at alat -er tim e, yo u giv e notic e of a Rule30(b)( 6) deposition that incl udes mat -ter salreadycov ered in the previ ous de p-os ition s? Yo ur oppo nen tcoul dmo vefora pr otec tiv e or der un der Rul e 26(c ),cont endi ng tha t the ad di tiona l depos i-tion req uest was undu ly burdenso me, orseek to av oid co mpliancewith the rul eand mer ely ask if the pla intiff wan tstheco rpo rat ion to prod uce the same wi t-ne ss es agai eFirs tCirc uit re ject ed suc hast rat -eg y inFoster-Mi ller , Inc.