Pierre Bourgeois

How long have you worked for this company

How long have you been a flagman

Did you receive any training

Were you taught protocols

Medical history = ears/eyes

Criminal background

 What is your current address? What are your previous home addresses
over the last 10/15/20 years?
 What is your current job? Do you have an employer or are you self-
employed? What is your current salary? What jobs have you held over
the last 10/15/20 years? What were your reasons for leaving those
jobs? Did you choose to leave or were you terminated? (Especially if
you’re claiming lost wages as part of your personal injury damages, you
can expect to be asked for a lot of details regarding your employment
and income history.)
 What kinds of legal claims or lawsuits have you been involved in in the
past? (This includes any insurance claims, workers' compensation
claims, and any prior lawsuits, even if not injury-related, including
divorces.)
 Have you been convicted of any felonies or misdemeanors?
 What illnesses and injuries have you had over the course of your life?
(Expect to recall every hospital visit, the names of every doctor who has
ever treated you, and other details of your medical history. Answer as
completely as you can, and add "That is all I remember at this time" or
something similar as a disclaimer.)

1. Do you wear eyeglasses?

2. Do you wear contact lenses?
3. Have any difficulty with your hearing?
4. Ever experience dizziness or blackout?
 5. Did you taken any medication within 24 hours before the accident?
6. Did you taken any nonprescription medication?
7. Did you take any illegal drugs within 24 hours before this accident?

Q: Do you wear glasses?

 
Q: Do you wear contact lenses?
 
Q: Have you had any visual tests in the past ten years? If so, when and where?
 
Q: What were the results of those tests?
 
Q: Do you have any visual restrictions on your license?
 
Q: Were you wearing your glasses or contact lenses at the time of the accident?
 
Q: Were you wearing sunglasses at the time of the accident?
Q: Did you give an oral or written statement to the police?
 
Q: What did you tell the police?
 
Q: Did the police issue a ticket or citation to you?

WEATHER:

Weather:
1. What was the weather like on the day of the accident?
2. Did it rain that day?
3. Did it snow that day?
 4. Is there anything about the weather that caused or contributed to the
happening of this accident?

What were the lighting conditions at the time of the accident (day or night; sun out or not)?

1. What side of the street did the impact occur on?

Q: Did you have trouble seeing at the time of the accident?

Q: If so, what did you do to make sure you could see while driving?

1. "Have you ever been deposed or testified in court before?" This is often asked at the
beginning of a deposition. It sounds like an innocent "throwaway" question meant to break the ice and lay
the ground rules for the deposition. However, they will try to use the details of your past testimony
(especially if you made provably-false statements) to attack your credibility as a witness.
2. "Do you have a history of drug or alcohol abuse?" If your lawsuit involves injuries and/or
illnesses you've suffered, the defense may try to suggest that past or present substance abuse is a
predominant cause of your injuries.
3. "Had you used any alcohol or narcotics in the days prior to the accident?" If the defense can
prove that you were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the accident occurred, they will
have a much better chance of convincing a jury that you, and not the defendant, were primarily
responsible for your injuries.

Tip: If you don't know the answers to these (or any) questions, don't
guess.
7. Did you speak to the other driver after the accident and, if so, what did each
of you say? Did either of you admit responsibility for causing the accident?
(Remember, be careful what you say at the scene of a car accident.)
8. What happened to your body inside the vehicle when the collision
occurred? Did any part of your body hit any part of the car?
9. What happened after the accident?
10. What physical damage did each car have? 
11. Who were the witnesses to the accident? Who came to the accident
scene?
12. Do you have any photos or diagrams that show the accident scene? (You
may be asked to draw a (non-scale) diagram of the accident scene showing
how the accident happened.)
13. Did you drink any alcohol during the 24 hours before the accident?

Your Injuries and Treatment

Typical car accident deposition questions related to your injuries and

treatment include:
1. What injuries do you claim were caused by this accident?
2. Did you have any health conditions before the accident that you contend
were aggravated (made worse) by the accident?
3. What doctors and other health care providers have you seen for treatment
of your injuries?
4. What symptoms did you have at the scene of the accident? Did you get out
of your car and walk around at the scene?

Typical car accident deposition questions on how the accident happened

include:
1. Time, date, day of week, and location of the traffic accident.
3. What were the weather conditions?
4. What were the traffic conditions?
5. Were there any traffic control devices, such as traffic lights, stop signs,
other signage, lane markings, etc. involved?
How far was the other car from you when you first saw it?

Where was the other car on the roadway at the time?

Where on the roadway did the cars collide?

What areas of the vehicles collided (i.e. driver's side fender, passenger side door)?
Where did the cars come to rest?

1. Duty of care. The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care based on the standards

within the industry or surrounding the situation.

2. Breach of duty of care. The defendant breached, or broke, a duty of care to the plaintiff.

A breach of duty can be any act of negligence, carelessness, recklessness, misconduct, or

intent to harm.

3. Causation. The plaintiff’s road construction accident must be a direct outcome of the

defendant’s breach of duty of care.

4. Damages. The plaintiff must have suffered damages as a result of the accident. Damages

can include physical injuries, mental anguish, medical bills, lost wages, and property

damage.

5. Design of construction zone route that creates hazard by forcing motorists to

make sudden or dangerous maneuvers.
6. Maintenance of construction site route that creates hazard by forcing motorists to
make sudden or dangerous maneuvers.
7. Lack of warning signs or improperly placed warning signs.
8. Directions for detouring through the site not fully visible.
9. Inaccurate warning signs.
10. Placement of signs, barricades or devices in too close a proximity to moving
lanes.
11. Operation of construction equipment that impairs passage of moving vehicles.
12. IX. DEFENDANT – Prior accidents
13. 1. Describe prior automobile accidents by dates, locations2. Circumstances of each3. Who was at
fault for each?4. Did you make claim for PIP or med-pay?5. Did you make claim against
insurance company?6. Was lawsuit filed?7. Disposition of all claims made arising from auto
accidents8. Was personal injury involved in each – if so, describe injuries9. Was property damage
involved in each – if so, describe10. Who repaired your automobile in each instance11. Have you
had any automobile accidents SINCE this wreck?12. If so, describe: when, where, injuries, at-
 fault party, and status13. Ever filed claim for any type of personal injury?14. Ever been a party to
any lawsuit?

1. The witness’s arrest and conviction record.

2. Whether the witness has ever testified in a case before

3. How the witness prepared for the deposition, including what documents
the witness reviewed.

4. (If the witness is not a party) what the opposing party’s lawyer told the
witness before the deposition.

5. (If the witness is a party) whether anyone else was in the meeting when
they met with their lawyer (breaking privilege).

6. The witness’s social network accounts – which ones they have, URLs, etc.

EQUIPMENT – SAFETY

1. Describe all standard working equipment for your job

2. Describe non-functioning equipment in your vehicle

3. What repairs have been made to your vehicle during the past year?

4. What repairs have been made to your vehicle since the wreck which were wreck-related

5. What repairs have been made to your vehicle since the wreck which were NOT wreck-

related?

6. What maintenance has been performed on your car during the 12 months preceding the

wreck?

7. What maintenance has been performed on your car since the wreck?
 8. Were your headlights working at time of wreck?

9. Were your headlights in use at time of wreck?

10. Was your horn in working order at time of wreck?

11. Did you use your horn in the wreck?

12. Were your signal indicators and lights working at the time of the wreck?

13. Did you use your signal indicators and lights?

OTHER OCCUPANTS

1. Name, age and address of other occupants

2. Injuries of other occupants
3. Purpose of passengers being in your vehicle
4. Rushing to appointed destination?
5. Conversations within automobile prior to wreck
6. Each passenger’s location within vehicle
7. Did any passenger interfere with your ability to drive or to pay attention
8. Were seat belts or other restraints in operative order
9. Were seat belts used by all passengers and driver
10. Did any passenger complain about the manner in which you were operating vehicle?
11. How would you describe impact
12. Did you air bag deploy?
13. Did you observe skid marks at scene?
14. Describe damage to plaintiff’s car
15. How far did vehicles travel after impact?
16. When did you contact your insurance company?
17. What did you tell them?
18. Did you give a recorded statement?
19. Did they ask who was at fault?
20. What did you tell them?
21. Did you ever contact the Plaintiff after the wreck?
22. Have you given statement to anyone?
23. Have you ever seen the police report? Do you agree with its contents?

When the defending lawyer makes deposition form objections, he is primarily concerned about the
clarity of the wording. Some examples of more specific grounds for objection to form include:
1. Compound: When the lawyer asks multiple questions at once (e.g. “Did George stop at the
sign and look both ways before proceeding?”).
2. Asked and answered: The question has already been asked, but the lawyer re-phrases it,
attempting to elicit the desired response.
3. Ambiguous: The phrasing of the question is vague (e.g. “What did they tell you about the
accident?”).
 4. Calls for speculation: The witness is asked what they “would have done,” which can lead to
harmful admissions.
5. Misstates testimony: The question includes an inaccurate representation.
If the defending lawyer does not object to the form of a question during the deposition, the
same objection to form is waived during future proceedings, including trial.

OBJECTION: RELEVANCY
A lawyer may attempt to object to the relevance of a question if it is clearly off-topic. Irrelevant
questions can be harmful to a witness testimony as they may serve to emotionally provoke the
witness or reflect negatively on the witness’s character.
The relevancy objection is quite subjective, especially during the deposition. Questions are
considered relevant as long as they can reasonably lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. As
such, the definition of relevancy is broader during a deposition compared to during a trial.  Further,
many courts do not allow objections as to relevancy during a deposition unless the question is
intended to embarrass or harass the witness.
OBJECTION: PRIVILEGE
An objection based on privilege invokes the legal protections set in place by common law or
statutory privilege. This is usually the only time a lawyer can instruct the witness not to respond to a
question. Common examples of privilege include:
 Spousal Privilege: Spouses have the right to not testify against each other.
 Attorney-Client Privilege: Clients have the right to communicate freely with their attorney
without fear of repercussions.
 Fifth Amendment: The Fifth Amendment privilege is when the witness’s response to a
question could reveal self-incriminating evidence.
 Doctor-Patient: Information shared between a patient and their treating physician cannot be
used against the patient in legal proceedings.