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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

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Attorney Fined for Client's Excessive Swearing During Deposition

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | March 07, 2008 - 13:34

A Pennsylvania federal court judge fined a CEO and his attorney $29,000 for the CEO's hostile and abusive conduct during a 12 hour deposition. The CEO used the f-word 73 times, interrupted counsel, gave unnecessarily protracted answers, interposed his own objections and wrongfully refused to answer questions. His attorney did nothing to stop his client's conduct, and in fact, chuckled at his client's behavior. See Memorandum re. Motion to Compel and for Sanctions: GMAC Bank v. HTFC Corp. (Feb. 29, 2008), E.D. Pa. Case No. 06-5291. Source: Dan Slater, Curses! Client Swears his Way Through Deposition, Pays Price, Wall Street Journal Law Blog Mar. 5, 2008.

To see another example of a deposition gone wrong, check out the following video:

Note that a non-examining attorney does have the right to register objections to questions posed to a deponent, whether or not that deponent is a client. See Lisnek, Paul; Kaufman, Michael, "Depositions: Procedure, Strategy & Technique", 3rd ed., Section 11.9.


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