§ 2025.210.Service of notice; time allowed

Before a party can notice a deposition, the Civil Discovery Act wants some baseline participation in the case already established, and this section draws that timing line differently for each side. A defendant can serve a deposition notice without needing the court's permission, at any time after that defendant has been served with the complaint or has appeared in the action, whichever happens first.

A plaintiff faces a short waiting period instead. Absent a court order, a plaintiff may serve a deposition notice only starting 20 days after the summons has been served on, or an appearance made by, any defendant. That gap gives defendants a minimal foothold in the litigation before facing deposition notices, though a plaintiff who needs to move faster can ask the court, on a motion with or without notice, for leave to serve a notice earlier on a showing of good cause.

Both timing rules give way to two other provisions in this article: the mileage and location rules of Section 2025.250, and the one-deposition-per-witness rule of Section 2025.610 governing subsequent depositions.