Deposition Tip - When The Witness Answers A Question Not Asked
Sometimes a witness will answer a question that you did not ask. This is sometimes done intentionally and sometimes it is unintentional. For example, in a car wreck case the defendant driver may be asked:
"When did you hit your brakes before the impact?"
The answer may be "I was always going under the speed limit."
That is an answer that was not asked for - instead the defendant was asked about when he hit the brakes - not how fast he was going. Normally the best approach is to say:
"Thank you. Now my question was actually when did you hit your brakes before impact."
The Illinois Trial Blog has a good post today on this subject and has some excellent suggestions on how to proceed. Depositions usually have some of these moments in them and its always good to have some options on how to proceed.
