DO YOU RE-SWEAR A WITNESS?

[jane hong-elsey]

Im a little new at this depo thing (having come from court).  I have a continued depo coming up. I did the volume 1 and now im doing volume 2.  My question is, do you re-swear the witness?  I asked a friend of mine, and she said she doesn't, since she swore them in already, and the depo had not been concluded. and in that vol. 2 atty says, "you're still under oath."

 

Im in Cali.  Does anyone know which way is more "correct"?   

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

I always ask, "Do you want the witness resworn or indicated as previously sworn?"  Whatever they say.  Not my decision.

[Patricia Babits]

I do what Marge does.

[Martha R]

attorneys seem to like reswearing 80% of the time, so I do whatever they want.

[Judy]

I do what Marge does too.  Their decision.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I personally ask counsel whether they want the witness resworn or not.  Sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say no.  You just never know. 

Oops, guess I should have read what everyone else said first before posting.  Yep, ditto!!

[Rosalie Henshall]

I always ask the attorney if they want me to re-swear the witness, and most of them do.  There was only one time I was yelled at by the attorney, having been fairly new out of school, and I started to swear the witness in, so I learned to always ask whether I did volume one or not.

[Chris]

If you did Vol. 1 swore the witness, ask counsel if he/she wants the witness resworn for Vol. 2.  If they say, no, go with it.

If you did NOT do Volume 1 and you ask if you should re-swear the witness and are told no, I would put a parenthetical at the beginning stating just that so that you cover yourself.  The court reporting school I attended many moons ago was drilled into us to always protect ourselves.  If the attorney says no and you've got it on the record, you asked.  If opposing counsel is sharp, they can have the transcript thrown out if they want to play that way.  And no matter how "nice" someone may be to your face at the time, when a scapegoat is needed, the reporter is the most convenient person to point a finger to.  Just FWIW..

[Rosalie Henshall]

Yes, as Chris, says, do the normal parenthetical at the beginning but just add previously affirmed, or whatever the word is that you use since, in California, deposition reporters are not supposed to use the word "sworn."