Chapter 1 - § 1.8 • DEPOSITION TESTIMONY

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 1.8 • DEPOSITION TESTIMONY

Although deposition testimony is not admissible as a matter of right, it is admissible in some instances. The admissibility of deposition testimony is governed by Rule 32 of the Colorado and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. As a general rule, any deposition may be used by any party for the purpose of contradicting or impeaching the deponent when the deponent is testifying at trial.

The deposition of any of the following may be used by an adverse party for any purpose:

• A party;
• A person who, at the time of taking the deposition, was an officer, director, or managing agent of a party; or
• A person designated under C.R.C.P. 30(b)(6) or 31(a) to testify on behalf of a public or private corporation.

Practice Pointer
If you are taking such a deposition, you should take care to make the transcript as "clean" as possible to facilitate its introduction at trial. If defending such a deposition, you should impress on your client the binding nature of the deposition and the fact that it is, in effect, trial testimony.

More generally, the deposition of a witness may be used by any party for any purpose if

• The witness is dead;
• The trial is in federal court and the witness is more than 100 miles from the place of hearing or outside the United States (unless it appears that the absence of the witness was procured by the party offering the deposition);
• The trial is in state court and the witness is outside of the State (unless it appears that the absence of the witness was procured by the party offering the deposition);
• The witness is unable to attend or testify because of age, sickness, infirmity, or imprisonment;
• The party offering the deposition was unable to procure the attendance of the deponent by subpoena; or
• The court finds, upon application and notice, that exceptional circumstances make it desirable, in the interest of justice and with due regard to the importance of presenting the testimony of witnesses

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