The Importance of Credibility at Your Deposition

The Importance of Credibility at Your Deposition

Credibility is huge. Sometimes, cases are won or lost simply based on the credibility of you the plaintiff or you the applicant.

Hi everyone! Dustin here from lawatyourside.com.

I want to talk to you about the importance of credibility in your deposition. Credibility is huge. Sometimes, cases are won or lost simply based on the credibility of you the plaintiff or you the applicant. Even if there is a legitimate injury and there’s legitimate treatment and all that, but if you don’t come across as someone who’s credible, and by credible I mean believable, likable, trustworthy, that can really hurt your case in the long run.

It’s been said that a likable plaintiff or a likable applicant sometimes is more important that even the rest of the facts of the case. If you’re on the plaintiff side, you’re going to have to go in front of a jury. There’s going to be 12 of your peers that are going to be watching you and evaluating you and saying, “Yes, I like this person. I want to award them. I believe them. I give them money,” or “I don’t really like that person. Yeah, there may have been an injury and all that, but they really rub me the wrong way. I wasn’t a fan so I’m not going to help them out. I’m not going to give them money.” So what’s very, very important is your credibility. So a couple of things with the credibility.

One is how you dress, how you present yourself. Do you look raggedy or do you look professional? That’s very important.

Second is your ability to speak clearly and intelligently. So when you’re asked a question, can you answer that question in a clear, concise manner, in a responsive and truthful manner, rather than rambling or going off tangent or talking about other things or really not answering the question? That’s going to be a very important factor as well.

Third is you’re ability to recall information. Sometimes, you might remember one thing and then as you’re going along, you remember it differently. Then you’re going along, you remember it a third way. So it’s important that you sort of have your memory and remember kind of what happened and have that in your mind, so you can clearly articulate it at the time of your deposition, so it doesn’t look like you’re making up stories or you’re changing your mind or you’re changing things as you go along.

The fourth thing to remember with credibility is how you behave in the deposition. Sometimes, you may have a defense lawyer who’s trying to rile you up. They’re purposely being confrontational or antagonistic just to rile you up, just to get you going. It’s important to be professional, be polite. Know that, if a defense attorney is being rude or obnoxious, that’s really all about them. They have some stuff going on in their own life that they’re trying to project on to you. It’s not about you, so just be calm, be professional, answer the question. If they’re asking inappropriate questions that are objectionable, your attorney can object and say that you don’t have to answer or suspend the deposition if needed, if necessary, but just be professional, be polite, be calm, be the bigger person in the deposition, and then you should be fine.

So practice those things in when you’re going to your deposition to increase your perception of credibility. Thanks so much for watching. I’ll see you in the next video.

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