By Sach Oliver
There are two main ways that prior incidents typically come into play when we depose corporate representatives on behalf of our clients.
One involves prior incidents within the same wreck. If we’re talking about prior incidents with the truck driver involved in a wreck, for instance, that speaks to reckless hiring or reckless retention on the part of the corporate defendant.
The other involves “Other Similar Incidents,” more commonly referred to as OSIs. For instance, a trucking company might have a similar history with different tractors or different drivers.
With OSIs[SC1] , we have a legal research issue on our hands, because we must ensure the prior incident is admissible in the jurisdiction where the case is being heard. Once we know the law, we simply follow the law.
This is why you need someone really smart on your team who is great at legal research. For the Oliver Law Firm, that’s Ryan Scott. He’s our chief litigation officer, and he is a legal research and writing guru. When an OSI comes into play for one of our clients, we can trust that Ryan has done all the legal research we need going into the deposition.
Armed with the fruits of Ryan’s expertise, our deposition outline will have very specific questions embedded that address admissibility. In other words, we know the elements to make it admissible in the jurisdiction, whether that’s Nebraska, Oregon or wherever, and I can ask the corporate witness questions that establish admissibility.
