As you proceed with a personal injury lawsuit, the defense will do everything they can to try to exploit the vulnerabilities of your case. While this includes challenging the validity of your physical evidence, drawing the credibility of your expert witnesses into question, and attacking the reliability of other witnesses, they might also depose you to see if they can find overall weaknesses in your story.
A deposition is the process of taking out of court testimony prior to trial. This testimony is given under oath and can be used against you at trial. The defense attorney will have a lot of latitude in the questions that they can ask you, too, with your attorney being limited in what they can object to and what they can prevent you from answering. Therefore, you need to be fully prepared going into your deposition. If you’re not, then you could mistakenly say something that’s contrary to your best interests and that could devastate your personal injury case.
You can never fully anticipate how a deposition will play out. However, there are some concrete tips that you can implement to ready yourself for the process. Therefore, if you want to protect yourself and your claim as much as possible, you should do the following:
- Anticipate the questions: You should have a good idea of the questions that the defense is going to ask and where your case is vulnerable. Once you’ve identified these areas, you can practice your answers. This way you reduce the risk of being taken by surprise at your deposition, which can lead to costly mistakes.
- Be prepared to listen: This sounds simple enough, but you really have to listen to the questions that are asked during your deposition so that you can answer them without volunteering additional information. If a “yes” or “no” question is asked, answer it with “yes” or “no.” Don’t start explaining unless asked to do so. And even then, be as succinct and factual as possible.
- Seek clarification: If you don’t understand a question, you have to be ready to ask for clarification. Don’t guess at what the attorney is asking, as doing so could give them additional information that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten their hands on.
- Know the facts: The defense attorney might go through every fact that’s relevant to your case. You need to have a command of them so that you can answer them truthfully and fully. Reviewing your medical records, police reports, accident reconstruction reports, and witness accounts can all help you here.
- Keep your composure: There’s a good chance that the defense attorney will try to rattle you. If they can get under your skin at a deposition, there’s a good chance they can do the same thing at trial, which can leave the jury with a bad impression of you. This can jeopardize your claim.
Don’t let a bad deposition derail your personal injury case
Although a deposition may feel less informal than in-court testimony, it can make or break your case. So, you shouldn’t skimp in preparing for yours. Take the time needed to fully analyze the facts of your case and to practice your responses to tough questions. By doing so, you’ll be able to walk into your deposition confident in your ability to brush aside traps that the defense attorney hopes to lay. This, coupled with other legal strategies discussed on our blog, may give you the edge that you need to win your personal injury case.
