Opinion ID: 714141
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Object to Ruling

Text: 23 Plaintiff next contends the estate waived the protection of the statute by failing to object. This assertion fails to take into account the district court's in limine ruling that Rosenfeld's testimony from the first trial was admissible in the second trial pursuant to Rule 804, despite the applicability of the statute. In opposition to plaintiff's motion that her testimony from the first trial be admitted at the second one, the estate had urged that using plaintiff's former testimony constitutes an obvious end run around the bar of the Dead Man's Statute. Because the district court at the outset made a definitive ruling contrary to the estate's argument on the admissibility of Rosenfeld's former testimony, there was no need for the estate to challenge admissibility again during the trial when plaintiff asked to introduce the testimony. 24 Although a litigant may not complain of error in the absence of a timely objection, see Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)(1), no formal exception is required. Fed.R.Civ.P. 46. When a trial court has ruled on a motion made in limine, there must, in some circumstances, be another evidentiary ruling during the trial to preserve the matter for appeal. Claims that relevant evidence is unduly prejudicial fall into this category--they must be resolved in the developed context of the trial. See United States v. Birbal, 62 F.3d 456, 464-65 (2d Cir.1995) (contention that Rule 403 required the exclusion of prejudicial testimony); cf. Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 43, 105 S.Ct. 460, 464, 83 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984) ([T]o raise and preserve for review the claim of improper impeachment [under Fed.R.Evid. 609(a) ] with a prior conviction, a defendant must testify.); United States v. Weichert, 783 F.2d 23, 25 (2d Cir.) (per curiam) (applying Luce rule to in limine ruling regarding impeachment under Fed.R.Evid. 608(b)), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 831, 107 S.Ct. 117, 93 L.Ed.2d 64 (1986). 25 Other types of evidentiary rulings made in limine may nonetheless be appealed despite the lack of a subsequent objection at trial. See United States v. Yu-Leung, 51 F.3d 1116, 1121 (2d Cir.1995). Evidentiary issues not contextually bound, courts have held, may be preserved by a motion in limine when the issue is one that (1) is fairly presented to the trial court, (2) may finally be decided before trial, and (3) is the subject of a definite ruling by the trial judge. See id. (citing United States v. Mejia-Alarcon, 995 F.2d 982, 986 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 334, 126 L.Ed.2d 279 (1993)). 26 Not all the Circuits agree with this view. Compare American Home Assurance Co. v. Sunshine Supermarket, Inc., 753 F.2d 321, 324-25 (3d Cir.1985) and Thronson v. Meisels, 800 F.2d 136, 142 (7th Cir.1986) (Rule 103(a) satisfied [b]y seeking, albeit unsuccessfully, to exclude the evidence by filing a motion in limine.) and Palmerin v. City of Riverside, 794 F.2d 1409, 1413 (9th Cir.1986) ([W]here the substance of the objection has been thoroughly explored during the hearing on the motion in limine, and the trial court's ruling permitting the introduction of evidence was explicit and definitive, no further action is required to preserve for appeal the issue of admissibility ....) with Collins v. Wayne Corp., 621 F.2d 777, 784 (5th Cir.1980) (because [m]otions in limine are frequently made in the abstract and in anticipation of some hypothetical circumstance that may not develop at trial [and] the trial court may not pay close attention to each one, ... a party whose motion in limine has been overruled must object when the error he sought to prevent ... is about to occur at trial.) and Hale v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 756 F.2d 1322, 1333 (8th Cir.1985) (applying same rule). 27 The Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules has recognized the uncertainty created by the varying positions adopted in different Circuits and has proposed amending Rule 103 to require timely renewal of pretrial objections and proffers of evidence unless the court states on the record, or the context clearly demonstrates, that a ruling on the objection or proffer is final. Proposed Fed.R.Evid. 103(e) (memo dated June 7, 1995), reprinted in 116 S.Ct. CLXXXII (1995). The new rule would require counsel to obtain the required ruling or bear the risk of waiving an appealable issue. Id. at CLXXXIII (committee note). 28 The district court's pre-trial ruling on admissibility of Rosenfeld's testimony under the Dead Man's Statute, unlike the ruling in Yu-Leung, was explicit and definitive. See Palmerin, 794 F.2d at 1412-13. It was set forth in a written opinion and order and left no room for reconsideration, nor did any new circumstances arise that would have changed its resolution. Further, the issue addressed by the district court--whether former testimony was admissible under Rule 804 notwithstanding the Dead Man's Statute--was essentially a legal one. [S]ome evidentiary issues are akin to questions of law, and the decision to admit such evidence is not dependent upon the character of the other evidence admitted at trial. Mejia-Alarcon, 995 F.2d at 987. Unlike rulings that involve balancing potential prejudice against probative value, the ruling in the present case was not fact-bound and no real purpose other than form would have been served by a later objection. 29 Moreover, the district court had a fair opportunity to rule on admissibility when plaintiff made her pretrial motion. In addition, because the estate advanced several arguments in its opposition to the motion, it is irrelevant that the plaintiff, rather than the estate, was the movant. Following plaintiff's motion, the estate stood in the same position as a party moving to exclude the evidence. In sum, an objection by the estate at trial would have been no more than taking a formal exception, which Rule 46 states is not required. See American Home Assurance, 753 F.2d at 324-25. The district court's in limine ruling may therefore properly be appealed. 30