Much of our business concerns depositions. An oral deposition is when a witness is questioned under oath in the presence of a court reporter, who takes down the testimony in written form. Plaintiffs and defendants can request depositions from each other, in many cases, without the direct action of the court. (For example, a plaintiff in some jurisdictions may serve a deposition notice once 20 days have passed from the date of the service of the summons, or response filed by, any defendant. And in some jurisdictions, a defendant can serve a deposition notice at any time after the defendant has been served or has filed a response in the court. The person serving notice generally must give at least ten days advance notice if the notice is personally served on the parties, and at least fifteen days advance notice if the notice is mailed.) In exceptional cases, either party may request action from the court if that party feels the other party is requesting depositions unreasonably, or not making themselves available for depositions in a reasonable manner. Most issues regarding depositions made for California litigation are governed the California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 2025. It is only a few pages, and all court reporters in California should study this section.
The entire text of the California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 2025 appears here
FORMATING STANDARDS
REPRINT OF FORMATTING STANDARD: The Court Reporters Board of California hereby adopts its regulations in Division 24 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations
Adopt section 2473 to read as follows:
2473. Minimum Transcript Format Standards. (a) A reporter licensed under Chapter 13, Division 3 of the Code shall comply with the following transcript format standards when producing a transcript in a legal proceeding. If a reporter is employed by a court, either as an official or pro tem official reporter, the transcript format set forth by state or local rules of court, or adopted by that jurisdiction, if any, will supercede. If there are no transcript format guidelines established within a jurisdiction, the following minimum transcript format standards shall apply:
(1) No fewer than 25 typed text lines per page;
(2) A full line of text shall be no less than 56 characters unless
timestamping is used, in which case no fewer than 52 characters shall be used on a full line of text;
(3) Left-hand margin is defined as the first character of a line off text;
(4) Each question and answer is to begin on a separate line;
(5) Text is to begin no more than 10 spaces from the left margin
including "Q" arid "A" Symbols;
(6) Carryover "Q" and "A" lines to begin at the left-hand margin;
(7) Colloquy and paragraphed material to begin no more than
10 spaces from the left-hand margin with carry-over colloquy to the left-hand margin;
(8) Quoted material to begin no more than 14 spaces from the left-hand margin with carry-over lines to
begin no more than 10 spaces from the left-hand margin;
(9) Parenthetical and exhibit markings of two lines or more shall be
no less than 35 characters per line; and
(10) In colloquy, text shall begin no more than two spaces after the
colon following speaker "ID."
(b) Failure to comply with these minimum standards, as noted
above, constitutes grounds for disciplinary action.
REFERENCE AUTHORITY: Business and Professions Code,
Sections 8007, 8008 and 8025;
Business and Professions Code, Section 11425.50(e)
OTHER SOURCES
The California Court Reporters Association provides many useful reference materials. Their latest news related to reporters can be found here.
