Instruction not to answer

[Erin Murray]

I am curious how everyone formats instructions not to answer.
Do you just list the page/line number on the index?
Do you also put a parenthetical, ex. (Instruction not to answer)?

I am fairly new and dont' have this happen too often, so every time it does.....I wonder.
Thanks!

[Katy Cuellar]

In this vein, I was recently asked to "certify" questions and various remarks at a deposition. The attorneys were yelling at each other, and one of them would keep yelling, "Court reporter, certify that objection!" Then a little later, "Court reporter, certify that answer!" So, you know, after all these years I have no idea what exactly he wants me to do, though I am feeling a need to do something above and beyond to keep the client happy. What I finally decided to do is to put an item in my index after the exhibits, 'TEXT REQUESTED TO BE CERTIFIED," and there I listed the page and line numbers of what was supposed to be "certified."

[Jennie Ann]

Katy, that is what I have done in the past as it pertains to "certifying the question."

Until I read it here on this forum, I was not aware that court reporters were making notations on the Index or Contents page each time an attorney objects and requests their client to not answer the question.

I do, however, think it is a nice complement to the transcript to do so, and if I was reporting, I would definitely consider doing it today.

Certifying a question, IMHO, is different than an attorney objecting and instructing his client not to answer.

[Katy Cuellar]

I was taught to not edit, but to produce a verbatim transcript. This includes things like (Witness nods affirmatively). Well, "affirmatively" is a stretch. So it's (Witness nods head). I was told that you cannot cross the line and "insert" yourself into the transcript, such as (Attorney swats at fly landing on table). To me, inserting a comment (Witness instructed not to answer) is the same thing. A California Highway Patrolman told me years ago that he got in a lot of trouble for pronouncing a person dead at the scene just because the person's head was lying in the bushes about six feet from the body. It was not his place to make that judgment call, but, rather the paramedics and the coroner.