Idaho depositions: video is allowed, but a stenographer has to be running at the same time

Idaho does not let you replace the court reporter. Audio and video are additions to the stenographic record, never substitutes for it — which affects the cost of every deposition you notice.

The stenographer is not optional

Rule 30(b)(3)(A):

Unless the court orders otherwise, testimony may be recorded by audio or audiovisual means, but must also be simultaneously recorded by stenographic means, as provided by Rule 30.1 .

Compare Nevada, where testimony "may be recorded by audio, audiovisual, or stenographic means" — three alternatives. In Idaho the stenographic record is mandatory and the others are optional extras. Only a court order changes that.

Budget accordingly: a video deposition in Idaho costs the videographer plus the reporter.

A party who wants a different method later may add one:

With prior notice to the deponent and other parties, any party may designate another method for recording the testimony in addition to that specified in the original notice.

Again, "in addition to" — the additions accumulate, and the party adding one bears the extra cost.

Transcription is on request: "If requested by a party the officer must transcribe the testimony at that party's expense."

Notice is "reasonable," not a fixed number

Rule 30(b)(1) departs from the states that name a figure:

A party who wants to depose a person by oral questions must give reasonable written notice to every other party.

No fourteen days as in Nevada, no ten-or-fifteen as in North Carolina. What is reasonable depends on the deposition — the witness's distance, the volume of documents, whether counsel must travel. That flexibility cuts both ways: there is no safe harbor in serving a notice a set number of days out, and no automatic defect in a short one.

"If known, the notice must state the deponent's name and address," with a general description sufficient to identify the person or class where it is not.

Remote depositions happen where the witness is

Rule 30(b)(4) allows the format by agreement or order — "[t]he parties may stipulate, or the court may on motion order, that a deposition be taken by telephone or other remote means" — and then fixes its legal location:

For the purpose of this rule and Rules 28 (a), 37(a)(2), 37(b)(1), and 45(f)(2), the deposition takes place where the deponent answers the questions.

That single sentence resolves several questions at once. The officer requirement under Rule 28(a) is measured there. A motion to compel or for sanctions under Rule 37 is anchored there. And the subpoena provisions in Rule 45(f)(2) — including the place-of-compliance limits covered in Idaho subpoenas — attach there too.

Note that Idaho, unlike Arizona, requires a stipulation or an order for a remote deposition. It is not something the noticing party may simply choose.

When leave is required

Rule 30(a)(2) names two situations:

A party must obtain leave of court: (A) if the deponent is confined in prison; or (B) the plaintiff seeks to take the deposition and more than thirty days have not passed since service of the summons and complaint on the defendant or since service has otherwise been made under Rule 4 (e).

with two escapes: "leave of court is not required if: (i) the defendant has served a notice of taking deposition or otherwise sought discovery" or the plaintiff certifies in the notice that the witness is about to become unavailable.

Organizational depositions

Rule 30(b)(6) carries the familiar mechanism under the heading "Notice or subpoena directed at an organization" — the notice or subpoena names the organization and describes with reasonable particularity the matters for examination, and the organization designates one or more people to testify on its behalf.

Because Idaho requires a subpoena for a non-party organization, and the subpoena rule requires the opposing party to be served seven days before the third party, an organizational deposition of a stranger to the case needs more lead time than the notice period alone suggests.

Objections and stopping the deposition

Rule 30(d) covers "Objections; Conduct; Sanction; Motion to terminate or limit examination" — the provision to reach for where an examination is being conducted in bad faith or so as unreasonably to annoy, embarrass or oppress the deponent. If the problem is that answers are not forthcoming at all, the Idaho motion to compel discovery is the route.

Stopping or limiting a deposition

Rule 30(d)(3) lets the witness stop it, and gives a choice of forum:

At any time during a deposition, the deponent or a party may move to terminate or limit it on the ground that it is being conducted in bad faith or in a manner that unreasonably annoys, embarrasses, or oppresses the deponent or party. The motion may be filed in the court where the action is pending or the deposition is being taken.

The standard is the same wherever this provision appears — bad faith, or conduct that unreasonably annoys, embarrasses or oppresses the deponent or a party. It is not a remedy for a deposition that is merely long or hostile. Note who may move: the deponent as well as a party, so a non-party witness has standing without hiring into the case. And either court will hear it.

The one-day rule, and the designation

Idaho's Rule 30(b)(6) mechanism is described above. What is worth adding is how it interacts with cost. Because every deposition here needs a stenographer alongside any audio or video, an organization that designates several witnesses multiplies the reporter's attendance as well as the examination time.

Where that is likely, raise it with the other side before the notice goes out. Agreeing the topics narrowly, or agreeing that a single designee will cover several of them, is cheaper than arguing about duration afterwards — and Idaho gives no default hour limit to fall back on.

A short checklist

Noticing one:

1. Book a stenographer, whatever else you are recording.
2. Price the video honestly — it is an addition, not a substitute.
3. Give reasonable notice, judged by the circumstances rather than a fixed count.
4. Stipulate or move for a remote deposition; you cannot simply notice one.
5. Get leave for a deponent confined in prison.
6. Allow extra lead time for a non-party organization, because the subpoena rule adds its own notice.

Receiving one:

1. Check that a stenographic record is being made; audio or video alone does not comply.
2. Ask what "reasonable" notice means here — distance and document volume are fair arguments.
3. Remember where a remote deposition sits — where you answer, which fixes the Rule 37 and Rule 45 questions.
4. Use Rule 30(d) if the examination becomes oppressive rather than merely long.

Where these rules live

• I.R.C.P. 26 — General Provisions Governing Discovery
• I.R.C.P. 28 — Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
• I.R.C.P. 30 — Depositions by oral examination
• I.R.C.P. 32 — Using Depositions in Court Proceedings
• I.R.C.P. 45 — Subpoenas
• I.R.C.P. 4 — Process
• Idaho subpoenas
• Idaho motion to compel discovery

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and Rule 30.1, which governs the stenographic record, sets requirements this page does not detail.