In a Texas deposition, the only objections you can state on the record are “Objection, leading,” “Objection, form,” and “Objection, nonresponsive.” Rule 199.5(e) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure limits deposition objections to those three phrases, and anything else—relevance, hearsay, speculation, improper opinion—is automatically preserved for the court to rule on later without you saying a word.1Texas Courts. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure – March 1, 2026 Getting this backwards is costly: an argumentative or suggestive objection waives the objection entirely and can trigger sanctions or termination of the deposition.
The Three Objections You Can State
Rule 199.5(e) draws a sharp line between objections to questions and objections to testimony. Two target the question: “Objection, leading” and “Objection, form.” One targets the answer: “Objection, nonresponsive.” If you don’t state these objections in those phrases during the deposition, they are waived and cannot be raised later.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions
The logic is that these are the objections that can be fixed if raised right away. A leading question can be rephrased. A vague or compound question can be clarified. A nonresponsive answer can prompt the examiner to redirect the witness. Every other objection can wait for the judge.
What Counts as a Form Objection
“Form” is a broad category. It covers questions that are vague, ambiguous, compound, assume facts not in evidence, call for speculation, or are argumentative. Asking “When did you stop hiding documents?” assumes the witness was hiding documents at all and is objectionable on form grounds.
Silence on a form problem is acceptance. If opposing counsel asks a confusing compound question and you say nothing, you cannot argue at trial that the resulting testimony should be excluded because the question was defective. The same waiver rule applies to leading and nonresponsive objections.
Waiver Runs Both Ways
The waiver framework is the single most important concept in Texas deposition practice, and it runs opposite to the instinct most lawyers bring from federal practice or trial work. Form, leading, and nonresponsive objections must be stated on the record or they are gone permanently. All other objections are automatically preserved and never need to be voiced during the deposition.1Texas Courts. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure – March 1, 2026
That creates opposite risks. The defending attorney loses form objections by staying quiet. The examining attorney can cure a form defect by rephrasing after an objection, which is why concise objections matter—they let the record show the problem without giving the questioner a roadmap to fix it.
Stating an Objection Without Waiving It
Keep it short. Say “Objection, form” or “Objection, leading” and stop. If the examining attorney asks you to explain, you must give a clear, concise reason—”compound question,” “assumes facts,” “vague as to time.” Refusing to explain when asked waives the objection.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions
The window is narrow. An explanation that becomes argumentative or suggestive also waives the objection, and it can produce sanctions or termination of the deposition. A two- or three-word description of the defect is safe. A sentence about what the witness has already said, or a hint about how the witness should answer, is not an objection at all—it is coaching in the shape of an objection.
Speaking Objections and Coaching
A “speaking objection” runs past the legal basis and feeds information to the witness. “Objection, the witness has already testified that she was not present at the meeting and cannot possibly answer this” is a reminder to the witness, not an objection to the question. Texas treats this as a double penalty: the objection is waived, and the court can impose costs and sanctions.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions The Texas Supreme Court flagged this concern in In re State Farm Lloyds, 520 S.W.3d 595 (Tex. 2017), warning that depositions are for fact-finding and that objections must not be used to shape the witness’s testimony.
In In re Liberty County Mutual Insurance Co., 557 S.W.3d 851 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2018), repeated argumentative objections were found to have improperly disrupted the deposition. The safer discipline is to say the objection, give the two- or three-word reason if asked, and let the witness answer.
Privilege Is Not on the List
Privilege objections are not one of the three permitted phrases, and Rule 199.5(e) doesn’t cover them. Privilege is preserved through a different mechanism under Rule 199.5(f): the attorney instructs the witness not to answer. Asserting privilege is one of the few grounds that justify that instruction.
The most common privilege in civil depositions is attorney-client privilege under Texas Rule of Evidence 503, which covers confidential communications made to facilitate legal representation. Work-product and the physician-patient privilege under Rule 509 come up regularly as well.3Texas Courts. Texas Rules of Evidence – Article V Privileges
Specificity matters. Identify which privilege you are asserting; a vague claim of “privilege” risks waiver. If the opposing party requests it, you must respond within 15 days with a privilege log under Rule 193.3 that describes what was withheld, which request it relates to, and the specific privilege asserted, in enough detail for the other side to evaluate the claim without revealing the protected content.4Texas Rules Project. Rule 193.3 Asserting a Privilege The Texas Supreme Court underscored the point in In re Memorial Hermann Health System, 464 S.W.3d 686 (Tex. 2015), where inadequate privilege assertions produced waiver.5Justia Law. In re Memorial Hermann Health System
When You Can Instruct a Witness Not to Answer
An instruction not to answer blocks testimony entirely, and Rule 199.5(f) allows it in only four situations:
- To preserve a privilege, such as attorney-client communications or work product.
- To comply with a court order or protective order already in place.
- To protect the witness from an abusive question or one where any answer would be misleading.
- To suspend the deposition under Rule 199.5(g) and seek a court ruling on the disputed question.
If asked to explain the instruction, the reason must be concise, nonargumentative, and nonsuggestive.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions An instruction without a valid basis is improper interference and can produce a motion to compel plus sanctions.
Relevance, Hearsay, and Everything Else
Relevance is not on the list of permitted objections, and it does not need to be. Because relevance objections are automatically preserved, silence during the deposition costs you nothing. Texas discovery rules also allow broad questioning—questions need only be reasonably related to the claims at issue—so voicing a relevance objection during a deposition usually just slows things down without changing what gets answered.
The same is true for hearsay, improper opinion, and lack of foundation. Save them for the court. If a line of questioning goes truly off the rails, let the witness answer (the objection is preserved) and, if the questioning becomes burdensome or invasive, seek a protective order under Rule 192.6. The Texas Supreme Court affirmed in In re National Lloyds Insurance Co., 532 S.W.3d 794 (Tex. 2017), that discovery must bear a reasonable connection to the claims and that even marginally relevant discovery can be denied where prejudice or confusion substantially outweighs its value.6Texas Courts. In re North Cypress Medical Center Operating Co. – Section: National Lloyds Discussion
Harassment and Bad-Faith Questioning
Rule 199.5(h) requires attorneys to act in good faith. A question cannot be asked solely to harass or mislead a witness, and an attorney cannot object, instruct a witness not to answer, or suspend a deposition without a good-faith factual and legal basis.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions
When questioning crosses into harassment—repeatedly asking the same question after a clear answer, adopting an intimidating tone, or probing personal matters unconnected to the case—the defending attorney can object and, if it continues, suspend the deposition under Rule 199.5(g) to seek a court ruling. Rule 192.6 allows the court to limit or prohibit discovery to protect against undue burden, harassment, or invasion of personal rights.1Texas Courts. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure – March 1, 2026 In In re Estate of Arrington, 365 S.W.3d 463 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2012), persistent badgering justified terminating the deposition.
Six-Hour Cap and Objection Strategy
Rule 199.5(c) gives each side six hours of examination and cross-examination per witness. Breaks do not count.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions The cap changes the calculus around objections in both directions. A defending attorney who makes lengthy speaking objections or draws out colloquy is running down the examiner’s clock, and that alone can support sanctions or an order granting additional time. An examiner who lets objection fights consume the day loses questioning time.
If the time limit runs out, or if the deposition is being conducted in violation of the rules, a party or the witness may suspend the deposition under Rule 199.5(g) to obtain a court ruling.
Getting a Court Ruling Mid-Deposition
When a dispute over objections or an instruction not to answer cannot be worked out at the table, Rule 199.5(g) allows any party or the witness to suspend the deposition for the time needed to get a ruling.2Texas Rules Project. Rule 199.5 Examination, Objection, and Conduct During Oral Depositions In practice this often means a call to the court for an emergency hearing. Some judges have standing procedures for same-day telephonic rulings; others require a written motion. Check your assigned judge’s procedures before the deposition.
If the examining attorney believes objections or instructions are being used improperly, the remedy is a motion to compel under Rule 215.1. The court decides whether the objections were warranted and can order the witness to answer if they were not. If the deposition is being conducted in bad faith, a protective order under Rule 192.6 can limit or prohibit further questioning.
Sanctions for Deposition Misconduct
Rule 215.3 lets the court sanction any party that abuses discovery by seeking, making, or resisting it in an unreasonably frivolous, oppressive, or harassing manner.1Texas Courts. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure – March 1, 2026 Available sanctions include monetary penalties, exclusion of evidence, striking pleadings, and dismissal of claims or defenses.
The framework comes from TransAmerican Natural Gas Corp. v. Powell, 811 S.W.2d 913 (Tex. 1991), which requires a direct relationship between the misconduct and the sanction, plus proportionality: the sanction cannot be excessive relative to the offense. Courts must consider lesser sanctions before escalating.7Supreme Court of Texas. In re Newkirk Logistics Inc. The severest sanction—striking the offending party’s pleadings—is reserved for flagrant or extreme bad faith where no lesser response would work.
For ordinary deposition misconduct, meaning repeated speaking objections, unjustified instructions not to answer, or obstructive behavior, the typical outcome is an order compelling the testimony and requiring the offending party to pay the opposing side’s reasonable expenses and attorney fees in bringing the motion. That is the routine cost of getting the objection rules wrong.