I’ve written about errata sheets–the ruled pages that will come with your deposition transcript–and how you use them to make corrections of the mistakes, usually typos or misspellings usually made by the stenographer who has recorded your deposition.
Today I saw this abstract of an article in the New York Law Journal which points out to lawyers how important it is to make those corrections.
Needless to say, because it’s a lawyer who has written this article for lawyers, no mention is made of your key role as the plaintiff in making those corrections. Because it is you–not your lawyer–who must do the work. Let’s just say, OK, your lawyer should check over what you’ve done. But since you’re doing due vigilance (ha ha), take a look at how important this part of your job is.
Be Vigilant When It Comes to Deposition Corrections
Michael Hoenig, New York Law Journal
In his Complex Litigation column, Michael Hoenig writes: At first blush, many litigators on both sides possibly view the practice of offering corrections to deposition transcripts as a kind of vanilla ministerial function. A passive, uninterested approach to the other side’s proffer of deposition errata sheets, however, is not only neglectful, it is unwise. When errata sheets are ruled to be failures, what’s left is the sworn “uncorrected” testimony, which can prove fatal to a litigant’s case.