Role of a McKinney Dog Bite Attorney in the Deposition Process

The parties to the litigation always have their lawyers if they want them there for the deposition. There is no requirement that they have to be there. However, attorneys have a crucial role during the deposition process. An individual may feel less secure and ready if their lawyer is not present during the deposition.

One of the reasons that someone would want to have their lawyer during the middle of the deposition is sometimes a question-and-answer may come off wrong. The questioner may be seeking a certain point, the person giving the answer may be giving the answer to a different point, and neither party realizes that they did not communicate well.

Asking Follow-Up Questions

It is important for a lawyer to be there because they are going to have an opportunity to ask follow-up questions. Sometimes when one of those counterpoints do not line up correctly, the lawyer asks the question to clarify so the client is not subject to cross-examination later because of a misunderstanding. These follow-up questions could help the lawyer get more information regarding the case and help establish the facts.

Cross-Examinations During the Deposition

In the dog bite case, our client and the defendant were cross-examined during their deposition. Cross-examination happens in every deposition. Any party’s deposition is always taken by the other side so it is a cross-examination. While they may get some general information by opening any questions, defendants are particularly keen on asking leading questions to try to limit liability or damages. In this particular case, we got admissions of prior dog bites and the severity of prior dog bites. While we knew that there was a prior dog bite, there was not any information as to who that person was. We were able to get that information from the defendant’s deposition and speak to the parents of the infant who was attacked by this same dog and get their statements.

There is a lot of money at stake and defendants do anything they possibly could to slow down the case and to devalue the case. The more severe the case and the more severe the injuries, the greater the likelihood to have to fully litigate the case and even try the case to get a positive resolution.