>> Q I -- I appreciate that. And again, this can be designated attorneys' eyes only. It's not going to be released publicly...

>Oops.

The paragraphs surrounding that are all blacked out, so I'm not sure that this is an oops.

What does that have to do with the case? Are they just asking him personal questions to invade his privacy?

No, in a deposition you are open to having to answer questions about pretty much anything. Your attorney can't do much to object or stop a line of questioning without a court order limiting scope.

Some attorney's will ask about totally irrelevant things just to annoy you or hoping to catch you off guard when they come back to the topic later. Or in some cases, they simply want to get you frustrated so that they get under your skin when they are asking their important questions. Depositions are just another part of discovery.

All the attorney has to do is catch you in one lie or to get you to make a misstatement that conflicts with some document they know they have and they will pound it into the ground in court. This is where the ammunition for the "were you lying then or are you lying now?" crap comes from.

Can you take your own sweet time to answer the questions?

I don't think you would get away with a one minute pause before answering each question without risk of potential sanctions if the lawyer felt you were simply driving up costs, etc. Of course to get sanctions the court would have to agree that your intent was to needlessly drive up the cost of the deposition or to harass the other party. If you are simply answering the question as asked the court would not grant any sanctions. However, if you ask for clarification on a question occasionally and only answer the question as asked you can get away with quite a bit.

He could have answered yes when asked about owning a ranch and made the attorney inquire further. Then upon further questioning he could have said I have multiple ranches. Then made them ask about each one in order to get to their intended question. Depositions are discovery so if they want to uncover, or discover, something then they have to ask the right question in order to get to the information.

I think that's partly where the "don't know which ranch you're talking about" thing comes from. Might as well spend some time on some irrelevant stuff instead of immediately saying which ranch it is.

Apparently some tests of the autonomous vehicles took place at one of Larry's ranches, along with possible meetings with Levandowski. I'm not sure why they start with such basic questions, though.

Depositions aren't free form. The rules applying to courtroom testimony mostly apply. One of those rules is that there has to be a foundation for everything. You can't ask about what happened at Page's ranch until you establish for the record that he owns a ranch and what ranch you're talking about.

The other part of asking basic questions is that the deponent's statement under oath that he started as CEO on such and such date is evidence that's directly usable. A print out from a web page with his basic bio can be evidence but it requires more hurdles. When you need that information for color down the line, it's helpful to have it in the deposition transcript.

Are depositions ever really useful?

I probably have a skewed view based on what gets posted on the internet, but it seems like it's a lot of "I don't recall" from everyone.

> Are depositions ever really useful?

Absolutely. Many depositions (and in significant cases, nearly all of them) are videotaped; then for trial, each side creates a "documentary" consisting of selected excerpts — think of it as being like a segment of a news show such as 60 Minutes. A string of "I don't know" or "I don't recall" answers, or even unduly-long pauses before answering, can seriously hurt a witness's credibility.

And if a witness testifies differently at trial than s/he did at the deposition, on cross-examination the opposing counsel will pounce and play back the relevant portion(s) of the video recording to impeach the witness's credibility that way as well.

Finally, depositions are very often used to "prove up" basic facts, as 'rayiner said in the GP.

To get it on record who you are for evidentiary reasoned also to lull the exponent into a false sense of ease or comfort. The attorney's try to be friendly, even chatty, so you will expound on your answers, correct them if they ask something wrong, etc.

They will also ask quite frequently if you are on any medication that impairs your ability to participate in the deposition or that could affect your ability to recall events, etc. This prevents you from being able to later say, "oh well I did not say that correctly. I had taken a pain pill for my back that morning, etc. ". The point is to avoid future surprises if the case goes to court.

It's always a good idea to start with the basics