Telephone depos - witness by phone, too??

[Kerry F]

Well, is this the new wave of the future?  Seems like there's more and more telephone depos with lots of people on the phone and only the witness in the room.  Do you charge any more per page for telephone depos?

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

I surcharge $.30/page for anyone appearing via telephone.  If they order but don't speak, I waive it.     It's a huge nuisance and this is a reasonable & customary surcharge.  Surcharges are important because when coupled with no page rate increases in a decade, it's only fair and shouldn't be squandered.

[Amanda Leigh]

Bet your sweet bippy! ;-)

[Kerry F]

Wow, I'd love to charge a surcharge for it, but most firms I work with I know would frown on it.  I've only run across a couple that charge maybe 20 cents more per page for it.  But it is harder to hear as well depending on the phone connection and speaker phones being used all around.  Cuts in and out really bad sometimes.

[Kerry F]

Has anyone ever done a phone depo with EVERYONE on the phone, including the witness?  That could be really tough to keep track of, don't you think?  And they changed our Colorado notary law last year that we have to log everyone we swear in now and they are supposed to be in our presence.

[Martha R]

I have been doing a series of hearings with a judge and two to four attorneys, all on a conference call.  It's a big pharmaceutical patent case.  It actually was not that hard to distinguish voices.   If that's the wave of the future, I could dig it.  Do a two-hour hearing in my PJs.   

[Mary K. Corcoran]

We have similar notary laws in Massachusetts where we have to get a government-issued picture ID for everyone we swear in.  We don't have to keep the log though for giving oaths, only for notarizing documents.  I will only do a telephone deposition when the witness is not with me if (a) they have a notary there to swear in the witness, or (b) the attorneys agree to "hold the court reporter harmless if later on it is discovered that this is not John Smith, blah, blah, blah."  I think it all has to do with insurance companies not wanting to pay the attorneys for travel time.