Witnessing

I have been taking a lot of depositions lately. Even in contentious business litigation, it strikes me that most witnesses tell “mostly” the truth. It certainly helps if you can pin them down and make lying an unappealing option. But most of the time, most of the people will mostly be honest. There are some exceptions. Unfortunately, there are some people for whom the truth is not a relevant consideration. They say what they think helps them, whether true or false, and generally without regard for the consequences. These are people I refer to as liars. Another exception is those people whose perception of the truth is unreasonable. They think they are telling the truth, which means they are not lying. But the resulting testimony is not credible, because it is not reasonable. Regardless of the pathology, the important thing is that the credibility of witness is far more important than any particular answer to any particular question. Credibility affects the way a witnesses’ cause will be evaluated by the judge or jury. It impacts highly upon whether someone is worthy of a verdict or award. The upshot of all this is — don’t lie because no one likes liars. Every case has a bad fact or two. Acknowledge them and move on. Honesty is the best policy.