You probably don’t think much, when you are noticing a deposition, about where it should take place. Ideally, you probably want it to happen in your own office.
The NC Rule of Civil Procedure on depositions, Rule 30, says that the notice of deposition “shall state the time and place for taking the deposition.”
Although you don’t have to subpoena a party to appear at his deposition, there are specific deposition locations identified in the Rule for residents and non-residents of North Carolina. As to residents, Rule 30(b)(1) says that “[a] resident of the State may be required to attend for examination by deposition only in the county wherein he resides or is employed or transacts his business in person.”
Non-residents? The Rule says that “[a] nonresident of the State may be required to attend for such examination only in the county wherein he resides or within 50 miles of the place of service.”
So the attorney for the Plaintiff in Micro Miniature Bearing Co. v. Barnett-Sabatino noticed the depositions of the four individual Defendants (all former employees of the corporate Plaintiff) at his office in Statesville. Each individual Defendant resides in Iredell County, and the Rules would seem to dictate that the deposition be taken in their home county.
Counsel for the individual Defendants (whose office is in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County), apparently decided that he didn’t want to make the ardurous 44 mile trek to Statesville to take the depositions, and sought a Protective Order requiring the depositions to be taken in his office. In an (unpublished) Order, Judge Robinson denied that request, stating that “[t[he Court has broad discretion and authority . . . to control the location of discovery depositions.” Order ¶11.
The reason given for the objection from the witnesses’ counsel to the depositions being taken at Plaintiff’s counsel’s office was that the deponents:
want to be able to confer with their counsel before and during the depositions [and that they] expect the depositions to be ”especially emotional’, and that [they wanted] to be able to retreat to [their] attorney’s office if [they] need a minute to relax.
Order ¶12.
Judge Robinson said that he was “sympathetic to the emotional and psychological stress experienced by the Individual Defendants arising from and as a result of this litigation, specifically the upcoming depositions.” Order ¶13. But even so, he said that this potential stress did not warrant requiring Plaintiff’s counsel having to travel from Statesville to Winston-Salem, away from the county in which the individual Defendants live and where the case was venued.
In a bit of Solomonic wisdom, Judge Robinson directed the parties to try to find a neutral site in Statesville for the depositions. If that was not possible he said that the depositions should be taken “in Room 106 at the Iredell County Courthouse.” Order ¶15.
There was nothing in this Order dictating which party should bring the Kleenex to the depositions. But in all seriousness, I had a deponent cry once when I was taking his deposition. And I wasn’t even trying to make him cry. So depositions probably are stressful for the witnesses.
[Note: If you’ve read this post in the hour since it was published, it has been corrected by now thanks to Andrew Rodenbough of Brooks Pierce pointing out an error of mine confusing the Plaintiff’s attorney and the Defendants’ attorney. Thanks Andy!]