{"id":22578,"date":"2014-05-05T23:49:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T04:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=22578"},"modified":"2014-05-05T23:56:11","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T04:56:11","slug":"deposition-weirdness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2014\/05\/deposition-weirdness\/","title":{"rendered":"Deposition Weirdness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photocopiers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet watched this reenactment<\/a> of a deposition segment about the meaning of the word \u201cphotocopier\u201d on the New York Times website, you should.\u00a0 The New York Times summarizes\u00a0the lawsuit in which the deposition was taken as follows:<\/p>\n

In 2010, the Cuyahoga County Recorder\u2019s Office in Ohio changed their policy about copying records. Digital files would no longer be available, and the public would have to make hard copies of documents for $2 per page. \u00a0This would prove to be prohibitively expensive for Data Trace Information Services and Property Insight, companies that collect hundreds of pages of this public information each week. \u00a0They sued the Recorder\u2019s Office for access to digital versions of the documents on a CD. \u00a0In the middle of the case, a lawyer representing them questioned the IT administrator of the Recorder\u2019s Office, which led to a 10-page argument over the semantics of photocopiers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The deposition segment starts with a question about whether the Recorder\u2019s Office used \u201cphotocopying machines \u2013 any photocopying machine?\u201d\u00a0 The deponent\u00a0attempts to turn the table: \u201cWhen you say photocopying machine, what do you mean?\u201d\u00a0 The ensuing dialogue\u00a0would not be out of place in an absurdist play.<\/p>\n

Although the reenactment is (presumably)\u00a0faithful to the deposition transcript,\u00a0the actors\u00a0clearly take\u00a0liberties with the delivery and demeanor of the participants.\u00a0 In real life, most court reporters\u00a0have mastered the art of the poker face, and attorneys rarely explode in anger.\u00a0 Indeed,\u00a0David Marburger, the attorney who took the\u00a0deposition in the lawsuit against the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office,\u00a0maintains in a comment submitted to the New York Times that his questioning style was dramatically different:<\/p>\n

The video is hard to watch b\/c it is so unlike th[e] actual atmosphere, which the transcript can\u2019t convey. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t angry; I was amused. \u00a0I just sat back in my chair and threw out questions to see how far the witness would go with what I viewed as a charade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, the situation depicted here\u2014witness is afraid to concede something banal, and gets backed into a corner\u2014is familiar to everyone who has attended a fair number of depositions.<\/p>\n

There is nothing\u00a0natural about depositions, which are\u00a0somewhere in between an interview and an interrogation (with objections thrown in for good measure).\u00a0 If the stakes are sufficiently high, everybody shows up thoroughly prepared, which drastically reduces spontaneity.\u00a0 The attorney who does the questioning often wants to get information the witness does not want to give up, and witnesses tend to be suspicious of even the most innocuous questions.\u00a0 Add the self-consciousness that results from everyone\u2019s awareness that a verbatim record is being created\u2014and often a video recording as well\u2014and you have a recipe for awkward dialogue.<\/p>\n

The deposition segment kicks off a new series in the New York Times, in which actors dramatize actual transcripts from legal proceedings.\u00a0 Hopefully future installments will live up to the standard set by the first dramatization.\u00a0\u00a0I look forward to\u00a0more opportunities to laugh at some of the weirder aspects of the world we inhabit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you haven\u2019t yet watched this reenactment of a deposition segment about the meaning of the word \u201cphotocopier\u201d on the New York Times website, you should.\u00a0 The New York Times summarizes\u00a0the lawsuit in which the deposition was taken as follows: In 2010, the Cuyahoga County Recorder\u2019s Office in Ohio changed their policy about copying records. 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