If your personal injury claim does not settle at the claim stage, then your attorney will need to file a civil lawsuit for you in court. As part of any civil lawsuit for personal injuries, depositions must be taken. For example, if you were involved in a motor vehicle accident, the attorney for the party you have sued will want to take your deposition. In order to do so, he must provide your attorney with a seven-days’ notice in writing of his intention to take your deposition.

At your deposition will be present a stenographer who will be typing everything that everyone says, you, your lawyer, and the other party’s lawyer. The other party’s lawyer, after you are sworn in by the stenographer, will begin to ask you questions. The attorney for the other party will begin by asking you basic background questions such as:

• What is your name?
• Your date of birth
• Marital status
• Education
• And other biographical matters of inquiry.

The other party’s personal injury attorney will then ask you questions regarding how the accident happened. He will ask you very, very specific questions as to the facts of the accident. Lines of inquiry will involve the date and time of the accident, location, any witnesses that were involved, whether or not the police were called to the scene, etc.
It’s very important to really focus on the question that’s being asked and to tailor your answers to the questions very concisely. Keep in mind the attorney for the other party is going to want to minimize his client’s liability. The deposition is a perfect format to do that because the attorney will be skilled at asking questions and eliciting responses that will ultimately help and ultimately hurt your case. By and large, the other party’s attorney can ask you just about anything he wants to ask you regarding the accident. Your attorney, under the Rules of Massachusetts Evidence, is allowed to object to any questions he finds out of line. However, while the objection is noted on the record, you will likely have to answer any and all questions that are not privileged.

Generally, for routine personal injury accident depositions in Massachusetts, they can last anywhere from two to up to eight hours. Once the deposition concludes, the stenographer, who is the one that typed everything that everyone said at the deposition, will produce a written transcript of the entire deposition proceeding. Your attorney will obtain a copy of the deposition transcript as well as the other party’s attorney, who took the deposition. Deposition transcripts can be hundreds of dollars and can range anywhere from $200 to $1,500 depending on the length of the deposition. The deposition transcript is a very essential component of the litigation process. The reason for that is that the transcript can be read at trial by the other party’s attorney or by your car accident attorney as well, in order to prove or disprove a point of trial in front of the jury.

If you are someone you know needs the services of a personal injury lawyer in Boston, I encourage you to contact The Earley Law Group Injury Lawyers today at 617-444-7777. We would be happy to provide to you a complimentary free consultation to discuss the particulars of your case and what rights you may be entitled to under Massachusetts law.