Rule 1.703 Deposition notice to parties in default

If someone doesn't respond to a lawsuit and gets a default judgment entered against them, the other side may still need to prove certain facts before the court will finalize that judgment. To do this, they can take depositions (sworn statements from witnesses) to gather that proof.

Before taking these depositions, the person seeking the judgment must notify the defaulted party. If that person has a lawyer on record, notice goes to the lawyer. If they don't have a lawyer, notice goes directly to them.

This notice requirement only applies to depositions taken for this specific purpose, proving facts needed to get a default judgment finalized. If depositions are taken for other reasons under different rules, the defaulted party does not have to be notified. In other words, once someone is in default, they lose the general right to be kept in the loop on all case activity, except for this one specific situation.