In this episode, Jim Garrity explains how to seek an order limiting the duration of an upcoming deposition, including the rules you'll rely on and the arguments you'l make (for or against, depending). Occasionally, it's obvious that certain deponents - high-level officials, spouses, children, or privilege-bearing witnesses, to name just a few - have limited knowledge or involvement. If so, a deposition spanning a full day or more simply cannot serve a legitimate purpose. That's when it's time to seek a court order in advance, limiting the length of the deposition. As always, supporting cases are in the show notes below.

And be sure to check out the book upon which this podcast is based,10,000 Depositions Later: The Premier Litigation Guide for Superior Deposition Practice, 3d. Edition, available just about everywhere books are sold. And if you don't mind, would you take a moment and leave our production crew a five-star rating wherever you get your podcast? This podcast requires tremendous time, energy, and research resources, and is completely free. For that reason, the best way to say thank you is with a great rating. Our staff is thrilled every time we see a new 5-star rating show up. As always, thank you!

SHOW NOTES:

Forte Capital Partners, LLC v. Harris Kramer, LLP, 2008 WL 4924724, No. C 07-1237 SBA (N. D. Cal. Nov. 14 2008) (“There is nothing in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or case law that legitimizes taking the full seven hours to depose a person when there is no purpose”)

Iron Hawk Technologies, Inc. V. Dropbox, Inc., No. 2:18-CV-01481-DDP-JE M (C. D. Cal. Mar. 20, 2019) (order time-limiting deposition of Dropbox CEO to three hours, in response Dropbox’s motion protective order)

Van Den Eng v. The Coleman Co., Inc., 2005 WL 3776352, No. 05-MC-109-WEB-DWB (D. Kan. Oct. 21, 2005) (rejecting defense demand to block deposition of former CEO, but limiting deposition to four hours; while evidence is weak that former CEO has relevant knowledge, “as a general, a party seeking discovery may test and asserted lack of knowledge”)

Speed RMG Partners, LLC v. Arctic Cat Sales, Inc., 2021 WL 5087280, No. 20-CV-609 (NEB/LIB) (D. Minn. Jun. 14, 2021) (rejecting defense request to time-limit 30(b)(6) deposition to 3.5 hours, saying there had not been a sufficient showing that topics of proposed corporate designee deposition were adequately addressed by prior fact witnesses)

Higginbotham v. KCS International, Inc., 202 F.R.D. 444 (D. Maryland 2001) (in response to plaintiff’s counsel’s alleged intransigence as to duration of deposition, defense counsel “could and should have filed a motion to modify the subpoena and to limit the duration of the deposition”)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(A) (authorizing court to limit duration of depositions)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) (authorizing courts to impose limits on discovery, including depositions)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(1) (authorizing courts to issue orders limiting undue burdens caused by subpoenas)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(3) (3) (authorizing courts to modify subpoenas to avoid undue burden)