Rule 27.Depositions Before Action or Pending Appeal.

Rule 27 deals with preserving testimony outside the normal life of a lawsuit — before one exists, or after judgment while an appeal is pending. For testimony someone wants to preserve before filing any action at all, this rule doesn’t set out its own court procedure; it points instead to the state’s statutes governing perpetuation of testimony, so anyone in that situation needs to follow the relevant statute rather than this rule.

Once a judgment has been entered and an appeal has been taken — or the time to appeal hasn’t yet expired — the rule supplies its own procedure. A party who wants to preserve a witness’s testimony for possible further proceedings in the same court can move for leave to take depositions, using the same notice and service as if the case were still pending. The motion has to show the names and addresses of the people to be examined, the substance of the testimony expected from each, and the reasons for perpetuating it. If the court finds that perpetuating the testimony is proper to avoid a failure or delay of justice, it can allow the depositions, make orders of the kind available under Rules 34 and 35, and the resulting depositions are taken and used the same way as depositions in a pending action.