Your Company Received a Deposition Notice Listing Topics: The Person Most Qualified Deposition in California

Last updated: November 2026. Reviewed by Pavel Kolmogorov, California business litigation attorney (State Bar No. 321018).

A deposition notice addressed to your company with a list of topics is a person most qualified, or PMQ, deposition under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.230. The company chooses the witnesses. It must designate and produce the officers, employees, or agents most qualified to testify on each topic, using the information known or reasonably available to the company. The deposition can be set as soon as 10 days after personal service of the notice. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. represents companies and their owners in business disputes, including at depositions.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online to discuss a deposition notice your company has received.

What the notice is

When the deponent is not a natural person, the notice must describe with reasonable particularity the matters on which examination is requested. The organization must then designate and produce those of its officers, directors, managing agents, employees, or agents who are most qualified to testify on its behalf about those matters. The duty extends to any information known or reasonably available to the organization. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.230.)

Lawyers also call this a PMK or person most knowledgeable deposition. It differs from the deposition of an individual, which our deposition preparation page covers. Here the witness testifies on the company's behalf, and the company must prepare the witness.

The dates that matter

The deposition must be scheduled at least 10 days after service of the notice. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.270, subd. (a).) Service by mail adds days to that minimum. Electronic service adds two court days only until January 1, 2027, when a 2026 amendment removes that extension. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1010.6, subd. (a)(3)(B), 1013, subd. (a), 2016.050; Stats. 2026, ch. 263.) That leaves little time, and one deadline falls even sooner. An error or irregularity in the notice is waived unless the company serves a written objection at least three calendar days before the deposition date. An objection made on that third day must be personally served. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.410, subds. (a), (b).)

Two other rules shape the day. A party organization's deposition may be set, at the noticing party's option, within 75 miles of its principal executive or business office in California. The other option is a place in the county where the case is pending that is within 150 miles of that office. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.250, subd. (b).) And the seven-hour limit on depositions does not apply to a person designated as most qualified. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.290, subd. (b).)

Choosing the witness

The statute asks who is most qualified on each topic, which is not always the most senior person. Different topics can go to different people. One Court of Appeal decision limits the pool: the company must produce the most knowledgeable person currently in its employ, and it need not produce former employees in response to the notice. They can be required to attend only by subpoena. (Maldonado v. Superior Court (2002) 94 Cal.App.4th 1390.)

Weigh the choice with trial in mind. At trial or another hearing, an adverse party may use for any purpose the deposition of anyone who was a party's designee when it was taken. The use is subject to the rules of evidence. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.620, subd. (b).)

The duty to prepare

A designee who knows little about the topics does not satisfy the statute. In the same decision, the court quoted a practice guide: a designee who lacks personal knowledge is supposed to find out from those who have it. The company must make sure the witness has access to the information and documents reasonably available within the company. Where the notice asks for documents, someone must ask the people who may hold them. The witnesses in that case arrived knowing little and carrying no documents, and the court directed that the motions to compel be granted. (Maldonado, supra, 94 Cal.App.4th 1390.)

Preparation therefore has three parts:

Read each topic and decide what the company knows about it and where that knowledge sits.
Have the designee review the files and speak with the employees who handled the matter.
Collect the documents the notice requests, and note which ones are privileged.

What not to do

Do not skip the deposition or send an unprepared witness. If a party's designee fails to appear, to proceed, or to produce the documents described in the notice, and no valid objection was served, the other side may move to compel. If the motion is granted, a monetary sanction follows unless the court finds substantial justification or that the sanction would be unjust. A party that then disobeys the order faces issue, evidence, or terminating sanctions. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.450, subds. (a), (g), (h).) Our page on discovery sanctions explains that ladder.

Do not treat the topic list as fixed, either. Before, during, or after a deposition, a party or deponent may promptly move for a protective order. For good cause the court may order that certain matters not be inquired into, that the scope of the examination be limited, or that a trade secret or other confidential commercial information be disclosed only to specified persons. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.420, subds. (a), (b).) Our page on protective orders covers that motion. Privilege and work product objections must be made at the deposition itself, or the protection is waived. A separate rule covers privilege claims over electronically stored information produced for the deposition. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.460, subds. (a), (f).) Our page on attorney-client privilege covers what is protected.

If your company is not a party to the case

A nonparty organization is reached by a deposition subpoena. The subpoena must describe the matters for examination with reasonable particularity and must advise the organization of its duty to designate the employees or agents who will attend. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2020.310, subd. (e).) Unless the organization consents to a more distant place, its deposition is taken within 75 miles of its principal executive or business office in California. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.250, subd. (c).) Our subpoena page covers demands for records.

What to bring to the first meeting

The deposition notice or subpoena, with the proof of service and the date you received it.
Any document requests attached to it.
An organization chart or list of the people who handled the matters in the topics.
The key contracts, correspondence, and reports on those matters.
The names of former employees who dealt with the dispute.

Frequently asked questions

Our company received a deposition notice listing twelve topics. Who has to testify and how do we prepare?

The company chooses. Under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.230, it must designate and produce the officers, employees, or agents most qualified to testify on each topic. Preparation means more than one person's memory. A California Court of Appeal has said a designee who lacks personal knowledge is expected to learn the information from those in the company who have it.

What is a PMQ deposition in California?

It is a deposition of an organization. The notice names the company and describes the matters for examination with reasonable particularity, and California law requires the company to produce the persons most qualified to testify on its behalf about those matters. Lawyers also call it a PMK or person most knowledgeable deposition.

Can a company object to PMQ deposition topics?

Yes. Defects in the notice are waived unless the company serves a written objection at least three calendar days before the deposition, under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.410. For topics that are overbroad or that reach trade secrets, the company may move promptly for a protective order limiting the matters to be covered.

Is PMQ testimony binding on the company?

The statute does not use that word. Under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.620, an adverse party may use for any purpose, at trial or another hearing, the deposition of a person who was a party's designee under section 2025.230 when it was taken. The use is subject to the rules of evidence. A thin or mistaken answer can therefore be offered against the company.

The person who handled the account left the company last year. Do we have to bring a former employee to the deposition?

Not in response to the notice. A California Court of Appeal held that a company's duty is to produce the most knowledgeable person currently in its employ and to give that person access to the information and documents reasonably available within the company. A former employee can be required to attend only by subpoena. The current designee still has to be prepared.

Talk to a California civil litigation attorney

If your company has been served with a deposition notice or subpoena that lists topics, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is a business litigation firm in Irvine, California.

This page provides general information about California law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the notice, the testimony, and the court.