§ 2025.295.Health of deponent; additional time allowed

Mesothelioma and silicosis cases move fast for a grim reason: the plaintiff's own survival may be measured in months, and every side wants a chance to question that plaintiff before it is too late. This section builds a special deposition rule for that situation, layered on top of the general seven-hour rule in Section 2025.290. When a licensed physician attests, in a declaration served on the parties, that the plaintiff suffers from mesothelioma or silicosis and that the illness raises substantial medical doubt the plaintiff will survive six more months, the deposition examination by all counsel other than the plaintiff's own is presumptively limited to seven hours of total testimony.

That seven-hour figure is a starting point, not a hard ceiling, because these cases often name far more defendants than an ordinary personal injury suit, sometimes dozens of manufacturers and suppliers along a single product's chain of commerce, and seven hours split among that many defense counsel can leave each of them with only minutes. The section responds with a sliding scale a defendant can invoke by request: a court may grant up to three additional hours, for a total of no more than 10 hours, when more than 10 defendants are appearing at the deposition, or up to seven additional hours, for a total of no more than 14 hours, when more than 20 defendants are appearing.

Granting either extension is not automatic. The court has to find that the extension serves the interest of fairness, a standard that expressly takes into account how many defendants are appearing, and the court also has to determine that the deponent's health does not appear endangered by the added hours. That second finding keeps the extension from swallowing the whole point of the section: giving a dying plaintiff's testimony priority over the convenience of a crowded defense table.