Under Rule 31, a party serves written questions, other parties may serve cross questions, and the officer administers them to the deponent and records the answers. No attorney attends.
It is used most often for records custodians.
Alternative Names:
Written Deposition, Rule 31 Deposition
Why it Matters?
The mechanism is efficient for authenticating records from a distant custodian, where the questions are formulaic and no follow-up is needed. It fails for anything requiring adaptation, since the questions are fixed and the deponent's answers cannot be probed. Using it for a substantive witness wastes the opportunity, because the inability to follow up is the format's defining limitation.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
When is this format useful?
What is the limitation?
