Courts across the country are rapidly adopting new rules to facilitate the taking of depositions remotely.
The United States District Court SD in New York extended deposition deadlines by 30 days and stated:
ORDERED, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(3) and (b)(4), that all depositions in this action may be taken via telephone, videoconference, or other remote means, and may be recorded by any reliable audio or audiovisual means. This Order does not dispense with the requirements set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(5), including the requirement that, unless the parties stipulate otherwise, the deposition be “conducted before an officer appointed or designated under Rule 28,” and that the deponent be placed under oath by that officer. For avoidance of doubt, a deposition will be deemed to have been conducted “before” an officer so long as that officer attends the deposition via the same remote means (e.g., telephone conference call or video conference) used to connect all other remote participants, and so long as all participants (including the officer) can clearly hear and be heard by all other participants. It is further
ORDERED, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4), that all unexpired deadlines for the completion of fact depositions, fact discovery, expert depositions, expert discovery, and/or all discovery are hereby EXTENDED for a period of 30 days.[1]
The Indiana Supreme Court clarified the rule on administering the oath remotely and stated:
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that:
- Notaries and other persons qualified to administer an oath in the State of Indiana may swear a witness remotely by audio-video communication technology, provided they can positively identify the witness.
- All rules of procedure, court orders, and opinions applicable to remote testimony, depositions, and other legal testimony, that can be read to limit or prohibit the use of audio-video communications equipment to administer oaths remotely, are hereby suspended, and will remain suspended until removed by further order of this Court.[2]
[1] https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7021479159101179619&q=no.+18-cv-2771+(BCM)&hl=en&as_sdt=3,30
[2] https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10085779015101407584&q=20s-ms-236&hl=en&as_sdt=6,30
