If you are involved as a witness or a party to a lawsuit for which an insurance company is going to be on the hook if a judgment is awarded, your deposition is the single most critical factor in your case. Depositions are the cornerstones of every civil litigation case, especially those involving insurance companies. Depositions are the tools each of the parties to a lawsuit uses to find out what each of the other parties to the lawsuit are claiming as the basis for their allegations and defenses to those claims.

Depositions also serve the dual purpose of providing the other parties to a lawsuit with a method to ensure that you tell the same story at trial that you told at your deposition. At your deposition, you will be asked a lot of questions. You will be under oath, sworn to tell the truth, so if you change your story at trial, the other side’s lawyer will use your deposition testimony to show the jury and the judge how your trial testimony differs from your deposition testimony. If you do not give good, careful testimony in your deposition and have to change some answers to some of the questions you gave during your deposition at trial, you will be made took like an unreliable witness – one whose testimony can not be trusted.

In addition to every word of every answer you give at your deposition being transcribed (i.e., typed) by a court reporter, you may also be videotaped. The lawyers for the other parties to the case are free to use either your deposition transcript and/or the videotape to illustrate how your story has changed for the judge, jury and whoever else may be in the courtroom, including your boss, co-workers, family and friends.

That is why deposition preparation is vital, particularly in insurance cases. Insurance companies defend lawsuits tooth-and-nail. Their attorneys are some of the best in the business at the tricks of the trade in terms of taking your deposition in a way that will benefit the insurance company and hurt your case.

The best method of deposition preparations by far is to purchase an excellent deposition preparation video and watch it numerous times prior to your deposition. Think of it as a security blanket. Doing so will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to beat the other parties’ lawyers at their own game.

For an excellent example of a witness preparation video, visit Deposition Rescue. This video includes basic deposition preparation advice for insurance cases as well as the following types of other litigation:

• Antitrust
• Class Actions
• Construction
• Dog Bite
• Education Law
• Environmental Law
• First Amendment
• Insurance Coverage/Defense
• Intellectual Property
• Labor & Employment
• Landlord/Tenant
• Medical Malpractice
• Personal Injury
• Premises Liability
• Products Liability
• Real Estate
• SEC Litigation
• Toxic Tort
• White Collar/Investigations
• Worker’s Compensation
• Wrongful Death.

Jeff L. Williams is a former trial attorney and co-founder of New Media Legal Publishing, Inc.