Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

As named defendants in a case have the right to be present at the deposition of any potential witnesses, you have to choose between whether you want to lock the defendant into his or her statement, or whether you want to use the deposition of the witness to establish facts that may encourage the defendant to settle the matter. Your choice will depend on the facts and circumstances of your case. Generally in civil case, any witnesses are excluded from the courtroom as a way of hopefully insuring truthful testimony. Your choice will be guided by what you need to establish in the deposition.

There are no rules about whom you should depose first. There is also no rule against promising not to sue somebody in order to encourage full and truthful testimony, but you can't condition that promise on the testimony's contents. And you should have a written agreement with the witness, drafted by a lawyer, to make it clear exactly what each of you agreed to.

You should get a lawyer to represent you if at all possible. Depositions are not as straightforward as they might appear. There are plenty of other complex procedures in store for you as well.

Good luck.