If you have not heard, California recently amended the California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2034.415 to read as follows:
An expert described in subdivision (b) of Section 2034.210 whose deposition is noticed pursuant to Section 2025.220 shall, no later than three business days before his or her deposition, produce any materials or category of materials, including any electronically stored information, called for by the deposition notice.
No longer can the expert arrive with a 1-2 foot high stack of documents and expect the opposing attorney to sit there reviewing all of the documents, while also paying the expert’s regular hourly fee to watch him or her. While this rule makes it a bit more difficult for all attorneys to make sure the file is ready three days earlier, it will ultimately save all attorneys time in dealing with the file and being better prepared for the deposition itself. However, this rule also means that attorneys should produce any animations or graphics that are used in support of an expert’s testimony at the same time. In our experience, the earlier demonstratives are provided to the other side, the less prejudice exists, thus the more likely the jury will see them.
If you are hiring outside contractors like Cogent Legal to assist you, the earlier you call, the better your chances of getting great demonstratives done in time for the expert file exchange. If you have any questions about this, or any other matter, please do not hesitate to call.
