After a deposition in a car accident case, the file moves into a predictable sequence: the court reporter produces a transcript for you to review and correct, both sides often send follow-up discovery based on what you said under oath, and settlement negotiations usually get serious because each side now knows how you’d come across to a jury. If the case doesn’t settle, mediation, pre-trial motions, and eventually trial follow in that order.
Most cases resolve somewhere along that path well before a jury is seated. Here’s what each stage actually looks like.
Reviewing and Correcting the Transcript
The court reporter typically produces a written transcript within 10 to 15 business days, and both you and your attorney get a copy. Read it carefully. Your job at this stage is to flag anything the reporter got wrong or anything you misstated during questioning.
Under the federal rules, a deponent who requests review has 30 days to examine the transcript and note changes in form or substance. Those corrections go on an errata sheet, which is attached to the transcript along with your reason for each change. You then sign to confirm accuracy. Skipping the signature doesn’t make the testimony go away; most courts treat an unsigned transcript as though you signed it.
The errata sheet lets you fix genuine mistakes, but it doesn’t let you quietly rewrite testimony. If you change an answer in a way that contradicts what you originally said, the opposing attorney can use your original answer to attack your credibility at trial. Courts generally allow substantive changes, but the other side gets to highlight the inconsistency in front of a jury. The smarter approach is to review the transcript with your lawyer and make only corrections you can explain with a straight face.
Because deposition testimony is given under oath, deliberately lying carries real consequences. Federal perjury law makes it a crime to willfully state something material you don’t believe to be true while under oath, punishable by up to five years in prison.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1621 – Perjury Generally Perjury prosecutions in civil car accident cases are rare, but the practical risk is bigger than it sounds: the opposing lawyer catches the inconsistency and uses it to shred your credibility during settlement negotiations or at trial.
Follow-Up Discovery
Depositions are one piece of the broader discovery process, and what comes out during testimony often triggers new evidence requests. Mention a doctor you saw or a repair shop you visited, and expect formal requests for those records soon after. Common tools that ramp up after depositions include:
- Interrogatories. Written questions you answer under oath, typically covering the accident, your injuries, medical treatment, and financial losses. Federal rules cap these at 25 per party unless the court allows more.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 33 – Interrogatories to Parties
- Document requests. Formal demands for records like medical bills, treatment notes, vehicle repair estimates, and pay stubs proving lost wages. The responding party has 30 days to produce the records or object.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 34 – Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things
- Requests for admission. Written statements the other side asks you to confirm or deny, which narrows the facts actually in dispute. If you don’t respond within 30 days, the statements are automatically treated as admitted.4United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission
- Independent medical examination. The defense may ask the court to have you examined by a doctor they choose. The court grants this only when your physical or mental condition is genuinely at issue and there’s good cause.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 35 – Physical and Mental Examinations
All discovery has a deadline. The court’s scheduling order sets a cutoff date, and once it passes, neither side can send new discovery requests without special permission. Expert witness reports face their own deadline, due at least 90 days before trial under the federal rules.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery Miss these windows and you can lose the right to present certain evidence entirely, which is why your attorney tracks them closely.
Settlement Negotiations
Depositions are where settlement math starts to crystallize. Before depositions, both sides are working with police reports, medical records, and their own client’s version of events. After depositions, they’ve watched the key witnesses answer tough questions under oath. That changes the calculus.
If you came across as credible, consistent, and sympathetic, the insurer’s exposure looks larger and the pressure to settle rises. If you struggled with contradictions or couldn’t clearly tie your injuries to the accident, the defense gains leverage. Either way, the deposition transcript becomes the reference document both sides use to anchor their numbers.
Settlement discussions can happen informally between attorneys, through written demand letters and counteroffers, or at a structured settlement conference overseen by a judge. Many cases resolve within weeks or a few months after depositions wrap up. Complex cases with disputed medical causation or multiple defendants can take longer. The advantage of settling is certainty: you know what you’re getting, you avoid the risk of a jury returning less than the offer or nothing at all, and you get paid faster.
Mediation and Arbitration
When direct negotiations stall, the parties often turn to alternative dispute resolution before committing to a full trial. Some courts require it.
Mediation brings in a neutral third party who helps both sides find common ground. The mediator doesn’t decide the case. They shuttle between the parties, reality-testing each side’s position and looking for a number both can live with. Any agreement is voluntary, and if mediation fails, the case simply moves forward. It’s the most common ADR method in car accident cases, and it works more often than people expect because the mediator can say things to each side that the opposing lawyer can’t.
Arbitration is closer to a streamlined private trial. An arbitrator hears evidence and arguments, then issues a decision. The parties agree in advance whether that decision will be binding (final and enforceable, with very limited appeal rights) or non-binding (advisory, with the option to reject it and proceed to trial). Binding arbitration trades the uncertainty of a jury for a faster, less expensive resolution.
Pre-Trial Motions
If settlement and ADR don’t resolve the case, attorneys shift to shaping the trial through pre-trial motions. These filings ask the judge to resolve specific legal questions so both sides know the rules going in.
A motion to compel forces a party to hand over evidence they’ve been withholding or ignoring. If the defense never produced the medical records your attorney requested, or stonewalled on interrogatory answers, the court can order compliance. The motion must include a certification that your lawyer already tried to resolve the dispute informally.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions
A motion in limine asks the judge to exclude certain evidence before the jury ever hears it. The defense might try to keep out evidence of prior accidents at the same intersection; your side might seek to exclude inflammatory photos that would prejudice the jury without adding much to the facts. These motions get decided before opening statements.
A motion for summary judgment asks the judge to rule on all or part of the case without a trial. The argument is that the undisputed facts only support one outcome, so there’s nothing for a jury to decide. The court grants it only when there’s no genuine dispute about any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.8Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 56 – Summary Judgment Full summary judgment is uncommon in car accident cases because fault and damages usually involve factual disputes. Partial summary judgment on a specific issue, like whether a particular category of damages is recoverable, happens more often.
Trial and How Your Deposition Comes Back
If the case does reach a jury, car accident trials follow a predictable sequence: jury selection, opening statements, presentation of evidence with direct and cross-examination, closing arguments, jury instructions, and deliberation. Length ranges from a few days for straightforward rear-end collisions to several weeks for cases involving catastrophic injuries or multiple parties.
Your deposition doesn’t sit in a filing cabinet during trial. It can come back in several specific ways. Any party can use deposition testimony to impeach a witness, meaning if you say something on the stand that contradicts what you said during the deposition, the opposing lawyer will read your earlier answer out loud to the jury.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 32 – Using Depositions in Court Proceedings Few things damage credibility faster.
If a witness is unavailable for trial because they moved far away, became too ill to attend, or died, their deposition testimony can be read into the record as a substitute for live testimony. The opposing party’s deposition can also be used against them for any purpose, which is why defense attorneys pay close attention when deposing the plaintiff and the reverse.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 32 – Using Depositions in Court Proceedings
After the Verdict
A jury verdict isn’t always the final word. The losing side can file post-trial motions asking the judge to overturn the verdict or order a new trial, typically arguing that the evidence didn’t support the jury’s decision or that a legal error during trial affected the outcome. If those motions fail, the losing party can appeal to a higher court, though appeals are limited to questions of law rather than re-weighing the facts. The appeals process can add months or even years. Even after a favorable verdict, collecting the judgment from the defendant or their insurer is a separate step that sometimes requires additional legal action.
Costs You Should Know About
Depositions aren’t cheap, and the bills from this phase shape your net recovery. Court reporter fees include an appearance charge plus per-page transcript costs that vary by region, commonly a few dollars per page for the original. Hours add up fast.
Expert witness depositions catch many plaintiffs off guard. Under the federal rules, the party who requests the deposition of the other side’s expert must pay that expert a reasonable fee for the time spent answering questions.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery Medical experts and accident reconstructionists often charge several hundred dollars per hour, so a half-day deposition of a treating surgeon can easily cost thousands. If your attorney is working on contingency, the firm typically advances these costs and recoups them from any settlement or verdict. Read your fee agreement’s cost reimbursement terms before discovery gets expensive, so there are no surprises when the final accounting arrives.