Deposing Employees and Former Employees of the Company That Injured You

One of the most powerful witnesses against a business that may have injured you is the testimony of their own employees. These employees often have intimate knowledge of how the company operates, what their safety procedures were, prior accidents, and whether or not the company kept its property in a safe condition.

Former and Current Employees

We all know that the likelihood of getting a current employee to honestly condemn his or her own, current employer, is slim–employees may understandably fear that if they testify that their employer didn’t do proper inspections, or knowingly allow a dangerous condition to exist, that their job could be in jeopardy.

But former employers may be a bit different. Former employees may not care as much about their former employer. In fact, some, if they parted ways with their former job in a less-than-amicable manner, may be excited to “spill the beans” against a former employer.

Locating the Employees

One problem with former employees is actually finding them. In some cases, employees might leave forwarding addresses with their former employers. But these employers won’t just hand this information over–you’ll need to fight them in court to compel them to hand it over.

Getting Documents First

Whether the employee is a current or former one, they may be hesitant to just blast their former employer over its poor safety records, or to tell you about all the other injuries that happened to other people on their property.

You can make it a little easier, if your attorney has gathered enough evidence against the Defendant that injured you, before the current or former employees’ deposition. That way, the employee is just confirming evidence that he or she sees that your attorney already has.

This of course requires that your attorney act diligently and aggressively in getting as much evidence as possible, before the employee’s deposition.

Asking Questions Properly

A good injury attorney also knows how to ask questions of a current or former employee, that doesn’t make it sound like he or she is condemning or “ratting out” his or her employer.

For example, a simple question about floor cleaning and inspection policies, or asking about how complaints of safety were logged by the company, may sound, to the employee, like simply questions about policy and procedure–but the answers can reveal a lot to strengthen an injured victim’s accident case, and help prove liability against the property owner.

Will Anybody See the Transcript?

Employees being deposed should be reminded that while a transcript could be used if the case went to trial, there is no requirement that it be provided to or shown to anybody. While the Defendant’s attorney does get a copy of it, often, corporate executives, managers, or officers in the Defendant company, don’t get the details on which former or current employee said exactly what in deposition.

Getting the evidence you need in your case isn’t always easy. Let us help.  Call our Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200.

Source:

bloomberglaw.com/external/document/X2NDVQ1K000000/employment-overview-defendant-deposition