LEGAL - Court Testimony


                           UNITED STATES
                    DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                         GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
                     Water Resources Division
                        Washington 25, D.C.

In reply refer to:                                June 24, 1958
                                                  Code 4050 0001

GROUND WATER BRANCH MEMORANDUM NO. 58.57

To:       District Chiefs and Staff Officials (GW)

From:     Chief, Ground Water Branch, Washington, D.C.

Subject:  LEGAL - Court Testimony

Personnel of the Ground Water Branch are frequently required to
submit testimony at various court trials and other legal hearings.
In order that this office may be better informed of the nature of
testimony presented and other information brought out during the
hearings, the personnel who are called as witnesses should prepare
brief summaries of the parts of the hearings that seem pertinent
to the activities of this branch.

Brief answers to the following specific questions are requested.
You should also include any additional information regarding the
testimony brought out in the hearing, which in your opinion is
pertinent to our operations:

     1)  Who were the principal parties involved in the
         litigation?

     2)  On whose behalf were you requested to appear at the
         hearing?

     3)  a.  Were you allowed to state the position of the Survey
             as being an unbiased, scientific, fact-finding
             agency?

         b.  Were you recognized as being a friend of the court by
             the magistrate and attorneys?

     4)  Was your testimony limited to factual statements or were
         you also required to give opinions or interpretations of
         these statements?

     5)  Were you pressured to state opinions beyond the
         information contained in published or open-file reports
         in other sources of reference?

     6)  In your opinion, was the status of the Survey jeopardised
         as a result of your appearance?

You should refer to the Chief Hydraulic Engineer's Memorandum of
March 17, 1958, for the basic Federal regulations and the Survey's
policy governing testimony by Geological Survey employees.



                               (s) A. N. Sayre

Distribution:  A, B, GS, GFO