Nevada depositions: fourteen days' notice, one day of seven hours

Nevada gives more warning before a deposition than almost any state here, and then caps what you can do with the day. Both numbers should shape the schedule before you notice anything.

Fourteen days

Rule 30(b)(1):

A party who wants to depose a person by oral questions must give not less than 14 days' written notice to every other party. The notice must state the time and place of the deposition and, if known, the deponent's name and address. If the name is unknown, the notice must provide a general description sufficient to identify the person or the particular class or group to which the person belongs.

Fourteen days is at the long end nationally — compare five in Tennessee, seven in Massachusetts, and simply "reasonable" in Idaho. Nevada also states it as a floor: "not less than."

The practical effect is on sequencing. A deposition you decide on today happens a fortnight from now at the earliest, so a discovery cutoff needs two weeks of headroom for every deposition still unnoticed.

One day of seven hours

Rule 30(d)(1):

Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court, a deposition is limited to 1 day of 7 hours of testimony. The court must allow additional time consistent with Rule 26 (b)(1) and (2) if needed to fairly examine the deponent or if the deponent, another person, or any other circumstance impedes or delays the examination.

Two halves worth reading together.

Seven hours of testimony, in one day. Breaks and argument do not count against the clock; testimony does.

And the court "must" extend it in two situations — where more time is needed to examine the deponent fairly, and where someone or something "impedes or delays the examination." The second is the one to document as it happens. A record of obstruction built during the deposition is what supports the application afterwards.

How it may be recorded

Rule 30(b)(3) is permissive: "Unless the court orders otherwise, testimony may be recorded by audio, audiovisual, or stenographic means," and "[t]he noticing party bears the recording costs."

Three genuine alternatives — unlike Idaho, where audio and video must run alongside a stenographic record.

Where the recording is non-stenographic, the rule imposes housekeeping designed to keep the record usable: "If the deposition is recorded nonstenographically, the officer must repeat the items in Rule 30(b)(5)(A)(i)-(iii) at the beginning of each unit of the recording medium" — the identifying information, repeated on every tape or file.

And a limit on technique:

The deponent's and attorneys' appearance or demeanor must not be distorted through recording techniques.

No unflattering angles, no lens or lighting choices that change how a witness reads on camera. It is a short sentence with real consequences for anyone directing a video deposition.

Remote depositions

Rule 30(b)(4) requires agreement or an 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 locates it: "For the purpose of this rule and Rules 28 (a), 37(a)(2), and 37(b), the deposition takes place where the deponent answers the questions."

Contrast Minnesota, where the noticing party elects the format and an objector must show good cause. In Nevada the format is agreed or ordered, not chosen.

When leave is required

Rule 30(a)(2) requires leave "to the extent consistent with Rule 26 (b)(1) and (2)" in the enumerated situations — including where the parties have already taken the number of depositions the rules allow, and where a deposition is sought before the time the rules otherwise permit.

Objections, and instructing a witness not to answer

Rule 30(c)(2) combines the old note-it-and-proceed rule with the modern limits:

Objections. An objection at the time of the examination—whether to evidence, to a party's conduct, to the officer's qualifications, to the manner of taking the deposition, or to any other aspect of the deposition—must be noted on the record, but the examination still proceeds; the testimony is taken subject to any objection. An objection must be stated concisely in a nonargumentative and nonsuggestive manner.

So the objection is preserved and the answer still comes — and the objection itself has to be short and neutral. Nevada then limits instructions not to answer to the familiar three grounds: preserving a privilege, enforcing a limitation ordered by the court, or presenting a motion to terminate or limit the examination. Anything else, and the question is answered.

Stopping or limiting a deposition

Rule 30(d)(3) gives the witness the same standing as a party:

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 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. Pair it with the seven-hour limit above: where an examination is running long and becoming oppressive, the two provisions do different work and can be raised together.

Deposing an organization

Rule 30(b)(6) lets a party name a public or private corporation, partnership, association or governmental agency as the deponent and describe with reasonable particularity the matters for examination. The organization then designates one or more people to testify on its behalf about information known or reasonably available to it.

Two Nevada-specific points follow from the rest of the rule. The seven-hour limit applies to the deposition, so an organization that designates three witnesses on three topics is not thereby buying three separate days unless the parties stipulate or the court orders it — worth settling in advance. And the fourteen-day notice runs from service of the notice, not from the designation, so a party that wants to know who is coming should ask early rather than assume.

A short checklist

Noticing one:

1. Count 14 days, and build that into the discovery schedule.
2. Plan for seven hours, and ask for more by stipulation if the case needs it.
3. Choose the recording method in the notice; all three are available.
4. Expect to pay the recording costs as the noticing party.
5. Stipulate or move for a remote deposition; you cannot elect it unilaterally.
6. Repeat the identifying items on each unit of a non-stenographic recording.

Defending one:

1. Check the notice date. Fourteen days is a floor.
2. Watch the clock — seven hours of testimony, not seven hours in the room.
3. Make a record of any obstruction, from either side; the extension provision turns on it.
4. Object to distorting camera work; the rule forbids it in terms.

Where these rules live

• NRCP 26 — General Provisions Governing Discovery
• NRCP 28 — Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
• NRCP 30 — Depositions by oral examination
• NRCP 32 — Using Depositions in Court Proceedings
• NRCP 45 — Subpoena
• Nevada subpoenas
• Nevada motion to compel discovery
• Nevada initial disclosures

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and an individual court's scheduling order may change the limits this page describes.