Rule 57.07.Use of Depositions in Court Proceedings.

Rule 57.07 governs how a deposition, once taken, gets used later in the case. Any part of a deposition that would be admissible if the deponent were testifying live can be used against a party who was present or represented at the deposition, or who had proper notice of it, and the rule allows a deposition to be used in court for any purpose, not just for impeachment or in narrow circumstances.

The rest of the rule is a waiver map, and it treats different kinds of defects differently. An objection to something irregular in how the deposition was noticed has to be raised promptly, in writing, before the deposition starts, or it is waived. An objection that the officer taking the deposition was not qualified has to be raised before the deposition begins, or as soon afterward as the disqualification becomes known or could have been discovered with reasonable diligence. By contrast, an objection to a deponent’s competency, or to the competency, relevancy, or materiality of the testimony itself, is not waived just because nobody objected during the deposition — those grounds survive to trial unless the underlying problem could have been fixed by raising it at the time.

Procedural and technical defects are treated more strictly: errors in the manner of taking the deposition, in the form of questions or answers, in the oath, or in how the parties conducted themselves — anything that could have been cured if someone had spoken up — are waived unless a party objects during the deposition itself. Objections to the form of written questions served under Rule 57.04 have their own tight window, tied to the deadline for the next round of cross or other questions and no later than 10 days after the last authorized questions were served. And any irregularity in how the deposition was transcribed, signed, certified, sealed, or filed is waived unless a party moves to suppress it with reasonable promptness after discovering, or being able to discover, the defect.