Rule 31.Depositions Upon Written Questions

Rule 31 lets a party depose a witness without anyone attending in person. Instead of live questioning, the party taking the deposition writes out its questions ahead of time and sends them, with notice, to every other party and to the officer who will conduct the deposition. The same limits that apply to oral depositions apply here too: no leave of court is needed unless the deposition would exceed the Case Management Order's cap, the witness has already been deposed, discovery hasn't opened, or the witness is imprisoned.

Other parties get a chance to add their own questions before the deposition happens. They have 21 days to serve cross questions, 14 more days for redirect questions, and 7 more days after that for re-cross questions, unless the court shortens or lengthens those windows for cause. The officer then reads all the questions to the witness in order, records the answers, and certifies and files the transcript following the same procedures used for oral depositions.

Because there's no chance to follow up on an unexpected answer, lawyers rarely choose this method over a live deposition. It tends to show up when a witness's testimony is routine, uncontroversial, or needed only from a distant nonparty who can be reached by subpoena but not easily brought into a conference room.