Rule 32.Use of depositions in court proceedings

Rule 32 picks up after a deposition has already been taken under Rule 30 or Rule 31 and answers a different question: can it be read or played back at trial or a hearing? The general rule is that deposition testimony, to the extent it would be admissible under the Rules of Evidence if the witness were live on the stand, can be used against anyone who was present or represented when it was taken, anyone who had reasonable notice of it, or used by anyone in whose favor it was given — but only if the situation fits one of four categories the rule lists.

The first category is the broadest: any deposition can be used by any party to contradict or impeach the deponent if that person later testifies as a witness. The second lets an opposing party use the deposition of a party — or of an agent the party authorized to speak for them, or of an officer, director, managing agent, executive officer, or Rule 30(B)(6)/31(A) organizational designee — for any purpose at all, whether or not that person shows up at trial. The third covers depositions of any witness, party or not, and lets any party use them for any purpose once the court finds one of several things: the witness has died; is outside Indiana, unless the party offering the deposition caused that absence; cannot attend because of age, sickness, infirmity, or imprisonment; could not be reached by subpoena despite the offering party’s efforts; or exceptional circumstances make it appropriate in the interest of justice; or the parties agree to it. The fourth is a completeness rule: if one side offers only part of a deposition, the other side can insist that any related portion needed for context come in too, and any party can add further excerpts.

Section A also addresses two situations beyond a single case. Substituting one party for another under Rule 25 — say, when an estate’s representative steps in after a party dies — does not disturb the right to use depositions taken before the substitution. And if a case gets dismissed and a later lawsuit over the same subject matter is filed between the same parties, or their representatives or successors, depositions lawfully taken and filed in the earlier case can carry over into the new one.

Section B keeps the ordinary rules of evidence in play: a party can object to a deposition coming into evidence for any reason that would keep the same testimony out if the witness were testifying live, subject to two cross-references elsewhere in the rules. Section C addresses what using someone’s deposition does to their status as a witness — taking a deposition does not make that person “your” witness, but introducing the deposition for some purpose other than impeachment does, except when the deposition is being used against a party-opponent under the second category above. Either side can rebut whatever the deposition contains, no matter who introduced it.

Section D sets out when objections to a deposition get waived if not raised promptly. Defects in the notice are waived unless a party promptly serves a written objection. A challenge to the qualifications of the officer who conducted the deposition is waived unless raised before the deposition begins, or as soon as the problem is discovered or reasonably should have been. Objections to a witness’s competency or to the competency, relevance, or materiality of the testimony survive even if no one raised them at the deposition — unless the problem could have been fixed by raising it then. Objections to how the deposition was conducted — errors in form, procedure, or the oath — are waived if not raised at the deposition, and objections to the form of written questions under Rule 31 are waived unless raised within a set window tied to the cross-question deadlines. Finally, problems with how the deposition was transcribed, signed, certified, or filed are waived unless a party moves to suppress the deposition reasonably promptly after discovering, or being able to discover, the defect.