Rule 30.Depositions by Oral Examination

Rule 30(a) starts with when a deposition may be taken. Once an action has begun, a party may depose anyone, including another party, without needing the court's leave, and a non-party's attendance can be compelled by subpoena under Rule 45. Leave is required in two situations: a plaintiff generally needs it to depose someone less than 30 days after serving the summons and complaint, unless the defendant has already sought discovery or the plaintiff uses the special notice procedure in Rule 30(a)(2)(A) and (b)(7) for a deponent about to leave the state; and any party needs leave to depose someone confined in prison. The court can also enlarge or shorten deposition timing and regulate the order depositions proceed in, for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and the interests of justice.

Rule 30(b) covers notice and mechanics. The noticing party must give reasonable written notice stating the time and place and the deponent's name and address, or a description sufficient to identify the person if the name is unknown; a subpoena duces tecum's document requests must be listed in or attached to the notice. The notice must state the recording method — audio, audiovisual, or stenographic — with the noticing party bearing that cost, though another party may designate an additional method at its own expense. Depositions may be taken by telephone or other remote means by stipulation or court order. The officer conducting the deposition has specific duties: an on-the-record opening statement identifying the officer, the date, time, and place, the deponent, the oath, and everyone present; repeating key identifying information at the start of each new recording unit for nonstenographic depositions; and a closing statement that the deposition is complete, noting any stipulations about custody of the transcript or exhibits. Rule 30(b)(6) addresses depositions of organizations: a notice or subpoena naming a corporation, partnership, association, governmental agency, or other entity must describe the matters for examination with reasonable particularity, and the organization must then designate the officers, directors, managing agents, or other consenting persons who will testify on its behalf about information known or reasonably available to it — and, since a 2022 amendment, the serving party and the organization must confer in good faith about those matters for examination before or promptly after service.

Rule 30(c) governs how the deposition itself runs: examination and cross-examination proceed as they would at trial under the North Dakota Rules of Evidence, objections must be noted concisely and without argument or suggestion but do not stop the examination, and instructing a deponent not to answer is limited to preserving a privilege, enforcing a court-ordered limitation, or setting up a motion to suspend the deposition under Rule 30(d)(2). That subdivision lets the court sanction — including awarding expenses and attorney's fees — anyone who impedes, delays, or frustrates a fair examination, and lets a deponent or party move to terminate or limit a deposition being conducted in bad faith or in a way that unreasonably annoys, embarrasses, or oppresses someone, with the deposition suspended while that motion is pending if the objecting person demands it.

Rule 30(e) gives the deponent or a party, if requested before the deposition ends, 30 days after being notified the transcript or recording is available to review it and submit a signed statement of any changes and the reasons for them; if the deposition goes unsigned after 30 days, the officer signs it and notes the reason, and it may still be used unless a court later suppresses it under Rule 32(d)(4). Rule 30(f) requires the officer to certify that the deponent was sworn and that the transcript accurately records the testimony, then seal and send the deposition by registered or certified mail or a traceable commercial carrier; documents and tangible things produced at the deposition are marked, and a person producing originals can either substitute verified copies or let all parties inspect and copy the originals. Finally, Rule 30(g) lets a party who shows up expecting a deposition recover reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, if the noticing party failed to attend and proceed, or failed to serve a subpoena on a nonparty deponent who consequently never showed up.