Berroteran

Opinion of the Court by Cantil-Sakauye, C. J.

We granted review to address a conflict in the Courts of Appeal regarding an exception to the hearsay rule, articulated in Evidence Code section 1291, subdivision (a)(2) (hereinafter section 1291(a)(2)), concerning testimony taken in an earlier proceeding and offered against a party to that former proceeding.1 Petitioner and plaintiff below, Raul Berroteran II, had been a putative member of a federal multidistrict consolidated class action suit against real party in interest and defendant below, Ford Motor Company (hereinafter Ford), arising from the diesel engine used in some of Ford’s vehicles in the early and mid-2000s. The federal matter settled, and Berroteran, like many others, opted out in order to pursue his own suit. In the meantime, nine out-of-state Ford employees or former employees had given videotaped deposition testimony in the federal action or in subsequent related California opt-out litigation. In connection with Berroteran’s ensuing suit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, he filed 10 designations of deposition testimony (one witness having testified twice) listing depositions of these nine unavailable…