General Provisions - Nonparty Discovery - Civil Procedure - CA

Section § 2020.010

This section explains how you can gather information, known as discovery, from people who are not directly involved in a legal case. You can do this by conducting interviews in person (oral deposition) or through written questions (written deposition). Additionally, you can ask people to provide documents or records. To make these requests, you typically need to issue a special legal document called a deposition subpoena.

(a) Any of the following methods may be used to obtain discovery within the state from a person who is not a party to the action in which the discovery is sought:

(1) An oral deposition under Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 2025.010).

(2) A written deposition under Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2028.010).

(3) A deposition for production of business records and things under Article 4 (commencing with Section 2020.410) or Article 5 (commencing with Section 2020.510).

(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 2025.280, the process by which a nonparty is required to provide discovery is a deposition subpoena.

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Section § 2020.020

This section outlines what a deposition subpoena can require. It can demand just the attendance and spoken testimony of a person, solely the production of business records for copying, or both the person's testimony and the production of various documents, including electronic and tangible items.

A deposition subpoena may command any of the following:

(a) Only the attendance and the testimony of the deponent, under Article 3 (commencing with Section 2020.310).

(b) Only the production of business records for copying, under Article 4 (commencing with Section 2020.410).

(c) The attendance and the testimony of the deponent, as well as the production of business records, other documents, electronically stored information, and tangible things, under Article 5 (commencing with Section 2020.510).

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Section § 2020.030

This law section states that certain rules from other parts of the legal code apply to deposition subpoenas unless this particular chapter specifies otherwise. It refers to rules about issuing subpoenas and handling evidence in depositions.

Except as modified in this chapter, the provisions of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1985) of Title 3 of Part 4 of this code, and of Article 4 (commencing with Section 1560) of Chapter 2 of Division 11 of the Evidence Code, apply to a deposition subpoena.

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