Group V: Depositions and Discovery · Last amended March 1, 2017 · Last verified July 14, 2026
(1) In General. — At a hearing or trial, all or part of a deposition may be used against a party on these conditions:
(A) the party was present or represented at the taking of the deposition or had reasonable notice of it;
(B) it is used to the extent it would be admissible under the Wyoming Rules of Evidence if the deponent were present and testifying; and
(C) the use is allowed by Rule 32(a)(2) through (8).
(2) Impeachment and Other Uses. — Any party may use a deposition to contradict or impeach the testimony given by the deponent as a witness, or for any other purpose allowed by the Wyoming Rules of Evidence.
(3) Deposition of Party, Agent, or Designee. — An adverse party may use for any purpose the deposition of a party or anyone who, when deposed, was the party’s officer, director, managing agent, or designee under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a)(4).
(4) Unavailable Witness. — A party may use for any purpose the deposition of a witness, whether or not a party, if the court finds:
(A) that the witness is dead;
(B) that the witness is absent from the state, unless it appears that the witness’s absence was procured by the party offering the deposition;
(C) that the witness cannot attend or testify because of age, illness, infirmity, or imprisonment;
(D) that the party offering the deposition could not procure the witness’s attendance by subpoena; or
(E) on motion and notice, that exceptional circumstances make it desirable-in the interest of justice and with due regard to the importance of live testimony in open court-to permit the deposition to be used.
(5) Limitations on Use. —
(A) Deposition Taken on Short Notice. — A deposition must not be used against a party who, having received less than 14 days’ notice of the deposition, promptly moved for a protective order under Rule 26(c)(1)(B) requesting that it not be taken or be taken at a different time or place — and this motion was still pending when the deposition was taken.
(B) Unavailable Deponent; Party Could Not Obtain an Attorney. — A deposition taken without leave of court under the unavailability provision of Rule 30(a)(2)(A)(iii) must not be used against a party who shows that, when served with the notice, it could not, despite diligent efforts, obtain an attorney to represent it at the deposition.
(6) Using Part of a Deposition. — If a party offers in evidence only part of a deposition, an adverse party may require the offeror to introduce other parts that in fairness should be considered with the part introduced, and any party may itself introduce any other parts.
(7) Substituting a Party. — Substituting a party under Rule 25 does not affect the right to use a deposition previously taken.
(8) Deposition Taken in an Earlier Action. — A deposition lawfully taken and, if required, filed in any federal or state court action may be used in a later action involving the same subject matter between the same parties, or their representatives or successors in interest, to the same extent as if taken in the later action. A deposition previously taken may also be used as allowed by the Wyoming Rules of Evidence.
(b) Objections to Admissibility. — Subject to Rules 28(b) and 32(d)(3), an objection may be made at a hearing or trial to the admission of any deposition testimony that would be inadmissible if the witness were present and testifying.
(c) Form of Presentation. — Unless the court orders otherwise, a party must provide a transcript of any deposition testimony the party offers, but may provide the court with the testimony in nontranscript form as well. On any party’s request, deposition testimony offered in a jury trial for any purpose other than impeachment must be presented in nontranscript form, if available, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise.
(d) Waiver of Objections. —
(1) To the Notice. — An objection to an error or irregularity in a deposition notice is waived unless promptly served in writing on the party giving the notice.
(2) To the Officer’s Qualification. — An objection based on disqualification of the officer before whom a deposition is to be taken is waived if not made:
(A) before the deposition begins; or
(B) promptly after the basis for disqualification becomes known or, with reasonable diligence, could have been known.
(3) To the Taking of the Deposition
(A) Objection to Competence, Relevance, or Materiality. — An objection to a deponent’s competence — or to the competence, relevance, or materiality of testimony — is not waived by a failure to make the objection before or during the deposition, unless the ground for it might have been corrected at that time.
(B) Objection to an Error or Irregularity. — An objection to an error or irregularity at an oral examination is waived if:
(i) it relates to the manner of taking the deposition, the form of a question or answer, the oath or affirmation, a party’s conduct, or other matters that might have been corrected at that time; and
(ii) it is not timely made during the deposition.
(C) Objection to a Written Question. — An objection to the form of a written question under Rule 31 is waived if not served in writing on the party submitting the question within the time for serving responsive questions or, if the question is a recross-question, within seven days after being served with it.
(4) To Completing and Returning the Deposition. — An objection to how the officer transcribed the testimony— or prepared, signed, certified, sealed, endorsed, sent, or otherwise dealt with the deposition — is waived unless a motion to suppress is made promptly after the error or irregularity becomes known or, with reasonable diligence, could have been known.
Added February 2, 2017, effective March 1, 2017.
Rule 32 picks up where the deposition rules leave off: once testimony has been taken and transcribed, this rule decides when it can be used later, in court. The starting requirement is that the party against whom the deposition is offered had notice of it or was represented when it was taken, and that the testimony would be admissible under the rules of evidence if the witness were on the stand in person. From there, the rule lists the specific ways a deposition can be used: to impeach or contradict a witness, without restriction, against the party who was deposed or whose officer or designated representative was deposed, and, more broadly, against any witness the court finds unavailable because of death, absence from the state, illness or infirmity, imprisonment, an inability to compel attendance by subpoena, or exceptional circumstances that make using the deposition more appropriate than insisting on live testimony.
The rule also curbs a couple of specific uses. A deposition taken on short notice cannot be used against a party who moved for a protective order about the timing or location and was still waiting on a ruling when the deposition happened, and a deposition taken without leave of court under the unavailability provisions cannot be used against a party who could not, despite trying, get a lawyer to attend. When only part of a deposition gets offered, the opposing side can insist that other parts be read in too if fairness calls for it, and a deposition taken in an earlier case involving the same parties and subject matter can carry over into a later one. Section (c) leans toward live-sounding testimony at a jury trial: unless the court orders otherwise for good cause, deposition testimony offered for a purpose other than impeachment should be presented in video or audio form when it is available, rather than read from a transcript. The rule's final section covers waiver -- objections to the deposition notice, to the officer's qualifications, or to how the deposition was transcribed and returned generally have to be raised promptly or they are lost, while objections going to the substance of the testimony, like competence or relevance, survive even without a timely objection at the deposition itself, since there was often nothing to fix in the moment anyway.