Errata Sheets in Florida are governed statutorily by Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 1.310. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 1.310 (West 2017). Rule 1.310(e) provides that a witness must be provided a copy of and read the transcript of his/her deposition. Id. The parties and the witness can mutually agree to waive the transcript review and examination, but if they do not then review and examination must occur. Id. During this process the witness can make changes in both substance and form to the transcript, and the deposition officer shall write the changes in a list with the witness’s reasons for the changes. Id. Then, the list of changes shall be attached to the transcript and signed by the witness. Id. If the witness does not sign the transcript within a reasonable time, the deposition officer must sign the transcript and state whether the witness was ill, absent, or refused to sign. Id. Once this is complete the deposition and accompanying corrections are considered part of the deposition. Id.
If the witness makes substantial changes to the transcript, the opposing party can reopen the deposition to ask about the changes, but the questions asked of the witness must be related to the changes made. Feltner v. Internationale Nederlanden Bank, N.V., 622 So. 2d 123 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1993). Additionally, the rule requires for changes to a deposition transcript to occur within a reasonable time. While nothing specifically says what reasonable is, the District Court of Appeals of Florida has held that filing the errata sheet more than three months following the deposition was too long of a time period. Baker v. Myers Tractor Services, Inc., 765 So. 2d 149 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2000). However, an errata sheet completed two months after the completion of the deposition was held admissible. Pena v. Design-Build Interamerican, Inc., 132 So. 3d 1179 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014).
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