Garner et al v. Mohave County et al

Filing 131

ORDER granting #121 Motion for Sanctions: All counsel shall limit their deposition objections to concise, nonargumentative, and nonsuggestive statements, as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(c)(2). See order for additional details. Signed by Senior Judge Paul G Rosenblatt on 1/29/2016.(LMR)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Joseph Garner, et al.,
Plaintiffs,

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vs.
Mohave County, et al.,
Defendants.

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No. CV-15-08147-PCT-PGR
ORDER

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Pending before the Court is the plaintiffs’ Motion for Sanctions Pursuant to

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Rule 30(d)(2) (Doc. 121), wherein the plaintiffs seek an order requiring all counsel

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to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(c)(2). Although the Court does not believe that this

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issue should have gotten to this point, it concludes from the submitted materials that

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the parties have reasonably attempted to resolve the issue underlying the motion

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without court intervention. Having considered the parties’ memoranda, the Court

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finds that the motion should be granted.

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The gist of the issue before the Court is whether the defendants’ counsel has

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been engaging in improper speaking objections during depositions. Rule 30(c)(2)

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mandates that an objection made during a deposition “must be stated concisely in

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a nonargumentative and nonsuggestive manner.” An objection that is argumentative

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or which suggests an answer to the deponent is an improper speaking objection.

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Both sides have submitted sample objections made by the defendants’ counsel and

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the Court agrees with the plaintiffs that some of the cited objections are in fact overly

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verbose, improperly argumentative, and/or improperly suggestive of the answer to

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be given by the deponent.1 The Court expects all future deposition objections to be

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succinct, nonargumentive, and noncoaching. Therefore,

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IT IS ORDERED that the plaintiffs’ Motion for Sanctions Pursuant to Rule

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30(d)(2) (Doc. 121) is granted and that all counsel shall limit their deposition

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objections to concise, nonargumentative, and nonsuggestive statements, as required

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by Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(c)(2).

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DATED this 29th day of January, 2016.

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The Court concludes that the following objections by the defendants’
counsel are examples of improper speaking objections:

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“ Also object on the basis of foundation as this document. It says 11/25
of 2014 was the adoption date so that’s after Karen Garner’s incident
just for the record.”

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”I am going to object to this question on the basis that it’s incomplete in
terms of you didn’t read the entire document and also foundation since
he said he was not a sworn deputy. Go ahead and answer if you can.”

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“Object to the form of the question; he’s already told you he didn’t know
the voice.”

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