California Deposition Rules: Notice, Seven-Hour Limit, and Sanctions

Depositions in California civil cases are governed by the Code of Civil Procedure, which sets the rules for noticing a deposition, choosing where it happens, how long it can run, how objections work, and what courts can do when a party or witness misbehaves. Testimony is given under oath in front of a certified court reporter and carries the same weight as courtroom testimony, so the same transcript can be used later to impeach a witness or, in some situations, read straight into evidence at trial.

The rules below apply to oral depositions in state court civil actions. They cover both party witnesses and non-party witnesses, though non-parties are compelled through a deposition subpoena rather than a simple notice.

What the Deposition Notice Must Contain

Any party who wants to take a deposition serves a written notice. The notice must state the date, time, and address of the deposition and identify each deponent by name, or by a description specific enough to identify the person if the name is unknown. It must be printed in at least 12-point type.¹

If you want the deponent to bring documents or electronically stored information, the notice has to describe those materials with reasonable particularity. If you plan to record the testimony by video or audio in addition to the standard stenographic record, the notice has to say so. And if you intend to reserve the right to play a video-recorded deposition of a doctor or expert at trial, that intent has to be spelled out in the notice too.¹

A deposition must be scheduled at least 10 days after service of the notice, with extra time added when service is by mail or another non-personal method.² Non-party witnesses require a deposition subpoena personally served far enough in advance to give the witness a reasonable chance to gather any requested records and travel to the location.³

Where a Deposition Can Be Held

You cannot force someone to travel wherever is most convenient for you. The noticing party must choose a location that falls within one of two zones: within 75 miles of the deponent’s home, or within the county where the case is pending and within 150 miles of the deponent’s home.⁴ The limits apply to every natural person, party or not.

To require a party or a party’s employee to appear outside those zones, you file a motion. The court weighs which side chose the forum, the deponent’s convenience, how many long-distance depositions are being requested, and the relative expense to both sides. An order can be conditioned on the moving party paying reasonable travel costs.⁵

Either the deposing party or the deponent can elect a remote deposition. The deposition officer may be in a different location from the deponent, and the deponent does not need to be physically with the officer to be sworn in.⁶ Notice requirements, time limits, and location protections still apply. If any party wants to appear physically at the deponent’s location during a remote deposition, that party must give at least five court days’ written notice.⁷

The Seven-Hour Limit and Its Exceptions

A California deposition is capped at seven hours of total testimony. The clock runs only while attorneys other than the deponent’s own lawyer are asking questions; breaks, off-the-record discussions, and objection colloquies don’t count.⁸

The cap does not apply in these situations:

Depositions of designated expert witnesses.
Cases the court has designated as complex under California Rules of Court, Rule 3.400. If a physician certifies that the deponent likely has less than six months to live, a special limit of two days at seven hours each, or 14 total hours, applies.
Cases brought by employees or job applicants against employers over the employment relationship.
Depositions of a person designated as most qualified to testify for an organization under CCP 2025.230.
Any deposition where the parties have agreed in writing to waive the limit.

When the seven-hour rule applies, the court must still grant additional time if it’s needed to fairly examine the witness or if someone’s conduct has delayed or obstructed the questioning.⁸

Deposing a Company or Other Organization

When the deponent is a company, government agency, partnership, or similar entity, the notice does not name a witness. Instead, it describes the topics of examination with reasonable particularity, and the organization then produces whichever officers, employees, or agents are most qualified to testify on each topic.⁹

The obligation runs beyond simply sending someone to sit in the chair. The designated witness must be prepared to testify about everything the organization knows or can reasonably learn about each listed topic. That often means reviewing internal records, interviewing coworkers, and gathering information the witness would not personally know. The testimony binds the organization, and a poorly prepared designee can create serious problems downstream. These depositions are also exempt from the seven-hour cap.

Objections and Refusing to Answer

Deposition objections split into two categories, and the difference matters.

Some objections have to be made on the record at the time or they are waived. That includes objections to privilege and to the form of the question, along with curable problems like defects in the oath or in a party’s conduct. Form objections cover things like vague or leading phrasing, and part of their purpose is to let the questioner rephrase.¹⁰

Other objections are automatically preserved. Objections based on relevance, materiality, or admissibility at trial do not need to be stated at the deposition to be raised later.¹⁰

For most objections, the witness still answers the question and the objection is simply noted for the record. Instructing a witness not to answer is reserved for narrow circumstances: protecting a privilege, enforcing a court-ordered limitation on the examination, or suspending the deposition to seek a protective order when the questioning becomes abusive. Attorneys who use the instruction outside those situations risk sanctions.

Protective Orders and Motions to Compel

When a deposition needs to be reined in, the tool is a protective order. Any party, the deponent, or any other affected person can seek one before, during, or after the deposition, and the motion must include a declaration showing the parties tried to work things out first.¹¹

On a showing of good cause, the court can block the deposition, reschedule or relocate it, limit the topics of questioning, change the recording method, exclude non-parties from the room, protect trade secrets or other confidential information, seal the transcript, or terminate the examination outright.¹¹ If the questioning turns abusive mid-deposition, the defending lawyer can suspend the proceeding and go straight to the court.

When the problem is the opposite one, a witness refusing to answer a proper question or withholding requested documents, the deposing party files a motion to compel. That motion must be brought within 60 days after the deposition record is completed and must include a meet-and-confer declaration.¹²

The 60-day deadline is strictly enforced. Miss it and you lose the right to compel the answer, no matter how clearly you were entitled to it. If the fight is over electronically stored information the deponent says is too burdensome to retrieve, the deponent has to prove the data is not reasonably accessible, and even then the court can still order production on a showing of good cause.¹²

Reviewing and Correcting the Transcript

Once the deposition is finished, the deposition officer notifies the deponent and all parties that the original transcript is ready. The deponent then has 30 days to read, correct, and sign it.

Changes go on an errata sheet. The deponent can correct anything, including substantive answers, but the original testimony stays in the record next to the correction, and the deponent has to give a reason for each change. That gap becomes useful ammunition for the other side at trial: a correction that flatly contradicts sworn testimony can look like a rewrite, and courts sometimes treat extreme changes as shams and disregard them. If the changes are significant enough to undercut the value of the deposition, the party who took it may be allowed to reopen the examination.

Using the Transcript Later

A transcript is not just a paper record. California law identifies specific situations in which deposition testimony can be used in trial or other hearings:

Any party can use a deposition to impeach a witness whose trial testimony conflicts with what they said under oath earlier.
An opposing party’s deposition can be used for any purpose, and the fact that the deponent is available to testify live is not a valid objection.
Any deponent’s testimony can be used for any purpose if the court finds the witness is dead, too ill to attend, more than 150 miles from the courthouse, or unable to be compelled to appear despite reasonable efforts.
A video-recorded deposition of a treating physician or expert can be played at trial even if the expert is available, as long as the notice reserved that right.

These uses only run against parties who had notice of the deposition and either attended or chose not to object. If one side introduces part of a transcript, any other party can introduce additional portions that provide context.¹³

Sanctions for Deposition Misconduct

California courts have broad authority to sanction abuse of the deposition process, including failing to appear, making meritless objections without justification, giving evasive answers, and disobeying a court’s discovery order.¹⁴

Available sanctions escalate:

Monetary sanctions covering the other side’s reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees caused by the misconduct. This is the most common form and is essentially mandatory unless the court finds the conduct was substantially justified.
Issue sanctions establishing certain facts against the offending party or barring that party from contesting specific claims.
Evidence sanctions prohibiting the offending party from introducing particular evidence at trial.
Terminating sanctions such as striking pleadings, dismissing the case, or entering default.
Contempt of court.

Courts generally impose sanctions in proportion to the misconduct, starting with monetary penalties before escalating.¹⁵

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.220
2
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP – Civil Discovery Act, Deposition Notice
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2020.220
4
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.250
5
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.260
6
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.310
7
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 3.1010 – Oral Depositions by Telephone, Videoconference, or Other Remote Electronic Means
8
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.290
9
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.230
10
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.460
11
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.420
12
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.480
13
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2025.620
14
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2023.010
15
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 2023.030