§ 2025.480.Motion to compel answers or produce documents, electronically stored

Not every deposition dispute gets resolved on the spot, and this section is the backstop for the ones that do not. When a deponent refuses to answer a question or produce a document, electronically stored information, or tangible thing the deposition notice or subpoena called for, the party who wanted that answer or material can move the court for an order compelling it.

Timing and process matter here. The motion has to be filed no later than 60 days after the deposition record is complete, and it has to come with a meet and confer declaration, so a party cannot sit on a dispute indefinitely or skip the effort to work it out informally first. Notice of the motion can be given right at the deposition, orally, with the deposition officer directing the deponent to appear in court at the specified time, or it can be served in writing afterward. Electronically stored information follows the same burden-shifting structure used elsewhere in this chapter: the deponent resisting production has to show the information comes from a source that is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or expense, though the court can still order discovery for good cause, and the court has to curb even accessible discovery that is duplicative, more easily obtained elsewhere, already adequately pursued, or disproportionate to the case.

The moving party also carries a documentary burden: at least five days before the hearing, that party has to lodge with the court a certified copy of the relevant parts of the stenographic transcript, or a certified transcript of the relevant parts if the deposition was only recorded by audio or video. If the court agrees the material is discoverable, it orders the answer given or the production made when the deposition resumes, and the losing side on the motion faces a mandatory monetary sanction absent substantial justification.

The consequences of continued defiance are the sharpest in this article. A deponent who disobeys an order entered under this section can be held in contempt of court, and if that deponent is a party or is affiliated with one, an issue sanction, an evidence sanction, or a terminating sanction becomes available on top of, or instead of, a further monetary sanction. Because Section 2025.480 sits at the intersection of a deposition gone wrong and a court's power to enforce its own orders, disputes over what counts as a valid objection, what counts as good cause for producing hard-to-reach electronically stored information, and how far a terminating sanction can reach against a party who stonewalls make this one of the most heavily litigated motions anywhere in the deposition chapter.