California Read and Sign Deposition Rule Requirements

THE CA READ & SIGN RULES REQUIRE: The witness may change the answer to any question and may approve or refuse to approve the transcript by means of a signed letter to the CSR.

GREAT NEWS! This allows for electronic review!

The CSR send out notifications when the original deposition is available and, unless waived or everyone agrees to a shorter time period, we will provide 30 days for reading, correcting, and signing.

The CSR indicate on the ORIGINAL the witness's approval of, failure or refusal to approve the transcript and the CSR will notify the parties attending the deposition of any changes which the witness timely made.

The deposition shall be given the same effect as though it had been approved if the witness doesn't approve the transcript within the allotted period.

WARNING: The transcript may be deemed incomplete if we don't follow these steps as the codes provide.

USDC REQUIRES:

The same CSR duties as above, but also the reporter MUST attach any changes the deponent makes during the read and sign period to the record of the deposition.

(This summary courtesy of the Deposition Reporters Association)
Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Author
Todd Olivas

Todd Olivas is a court reporter and entrepreneur.
He founded TO&A in 2003.

  Comment by C. Gaudet | Monday, November 4, 2019
I am a certified court reporter in Louisiana. I`ve taken the deposition of an expert witness who lives in Louisiana, and the deposition was taken in Louisiana. When the deposition was completed, the witness said he didn`t want to read and sign. The taking attorney told him he must read and sign; it`s a requirement. He then instructed me to send the read and sign to the opposing attorneys, who didn`t want a copy of the transcript. Is this normal protocol?


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