California CSRs go by California code. Period. End of story.
Question: In a nutshell, what’s a California CSR’s duty to abide by another state (say, Arizona’s) regs & codes regarding the signature and changes made to a deposition? For example, if you do a job in CA for a case venued in AZ where the client demands you do this and that according to some codes in AZ law -- whatcha gonna do?
Answer: As of the first of this year -- January 1, 2010 -- a law went into effect that essentially says that for depositions taken in CA, even by out-of-state attorneys, CA law will apply. Further, it is an entirely moot point as to what Arizona law says, whether the citing attorney is interpreting it correctly or not.
The new language is in the section at the end here, (see below) in 2029.500. Included are the beginning paragraphs of this series of sections to give you the lead-in where it defines a foreign jurisdiction as any state other than CA. The final paragraph is a bit convoluted, but the basic effect of the new section is that CA laws regarding deposition procedure are to apply to any discovery under this article, and that discovery would be any conducted in CA even from out-of-state jurisdictions.
2029.100. This article may be cited as the Interstate and
International Depositions and Discovery Act.
2029.200. In this article:
(a) Foreign jurisdiction means either of the following:
(1) A state other than this state.
(2) A foreign nation.
(b) Foreign subpoena means a subpoena issued under authority of
a court of record of a foreign jurisdiction.
(c) Person means an individual, corporation, business trus
estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association,
joint venture, public corporation, government, or governmental
subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or
commercial entity.
(d) State means a state of the United States, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, a federally recognized
Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
(e) Subpoena means a document, however denominated, issued under
authority of a court of record requiring a person to do any of the
following:
(1) Attend and give testimony at a deposition.
(2) Produce and permit inspection and copying of designated books,
documents, records, electronically stored information, or tangible
things in the possession, custody, or control of the person.
(3) Permit inspection of premises under the control of the person.
2029.500. Titles 3 (commencing with Section 1985) and 4 (commencing
with Section 2016.010) of Part 4, and any other law or court rule of
this state governing a deposition, a production of documents or
other tangible items, or an inspection of premises, including any law
or court rule governing payment of court costs or sanctions, apply
to discovery under this article.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
