Tag Archives: Non-party attendance at depositions

Sooner or later, most attorneys will encounter a situation when someone other than a party to a case asks to attend a deposition being taken in that case, or even shows up at a deposition unannounced.  Perhaps it’s a family member or friend of the deponent, there for support.  Maybe it’s a consulting (or even a disclosed) expert, there to assist an attorney with his examination.  Or it could be a claims adjuster who wants to personally observe the deponent’s performance (or yours) first-hand.

Whether such person is permitted to attend the deposition may depend, in part, on which legal system a particular case is filed in: Illinois circuit court, or Federal district court.  This article will focus on state court proceedings.

There is no Supreme Court Rule, no statute, and no case law in Illinois which specifically prohibits a non-party observer’s attendance at a deposition. Illinois Supreme Court Rules 202, 203 and 204 specify, respectively, the purposes for which depositions may be taken, the locations where depositions may be taken, and the methods of compelling the appearance of deponents, but neither the Supreme Court Rules, nor the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, contain any provisions limiting the attendance of specific persons at depositions.^{1 Read More…}