California Code of Civil Procedure §2025.290 (effective January 1, 2013) limits Non-Expert Depositions to 7 hours. The section reads:
Unless otherwise stipulated to or ordered by the court, a deposition is limited to one day of seven hours. The court shall allow additional time if needed to fairly examine the deponent or if the deponent, another person, or any other circumstance impedes or delays the examination.
This is the exact language used by Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure titled “Depositions by Oral Examination”.
Before you react, realize that seven hours of deposition testimony in one day is a lot of actual testimony time. It would take the following schedule to complete a seven hour deposition in one day.
8:30–10:00 a.m. 1.5 hours of actual testimony
10:00–10:15 a.m. Break
10:15–11:45 a.m. 1.5 hours of actual testimony
11:45–12:45 p.m. Lunch
12:45–12:15 p.m. 1.5 hours of actual testimony
2:15–2:30 p.m. Break
2:30–4:00 p.m. 1.5 hours of actual testimony
4:00–4:15 p.m. Break
4:15–5:15 p.m. 1.0 hours of actual testimony