Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Sort of PI, but an Law Office

A witness will either tell the truth or not. The only thing you can do is have a PI interview them to see what they will say before deciding if you want to call them as a witness.

Re: Sort of PI, but an Law Office

The only statements from a witness that really matter are those made under oath, usually in a deposition or in court. While PIs are useful in pre-screening potential witnesses, interrogation under oath is the lawyers' role.

Witnesses that are on your side or neutral will tend to tell the truth under questioning without the need for much effort on the part of the questioner. Hostile witnesses will either give brief truthful anwers that volunteer no information, half truths, misleadingly true answers, or various kinds of lies.

To get the truth out of hostile witnesses a lawyer needs special skills. Some are better than others. Experience, intelligence, training and careful preparation all play a part.

Judges and juries are generally pretty good at telling when a witness is being evasive or untruthful, but they don't always figure out what the true fact (that is being concealed) is -- they just sense they aren't getting the straight scoop.

Re: Sort of PI, but an Law Office

There are attorneys who teach hou to do a deposition that gets people to contradict themselves.

The bottom line is that most cases are won or lost in deposition. Is there a lawsuit already? If so, has your attorney ordered depositions of these withnesses? This is very important to get to the bottom of things, because they are taken under oath, so it is like testifying in court, and the deposition is recorded.