Opinion ID: 2637863
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Late Disclosure of Witnesses

Text: {6} On February 12, 1996, Plaintiff responded to a list of interrogatories submitted by Defendant Samson which included a request to identify each witness whom Plaintiff intended to call at trial and a brief synopsis of their testimony. Plaintiff stated that she intended to call any and all personnel from Dan Trigg Hospital. No other witnesses have been developed. Plaintiff did not supplement her answer to this interrogatory during the course of litigation. {7} Over one year later, on March 14, 1997, Defendant Ortiz requested that Plaintiff supplement her responses to interrogatories. Defendant Ortiz expressly identified in this letter that he was primarily interested in [Plaintiff's] trial witnesses and exhibits. Plaintiff failed to respond to this request. On May 30, 1997, approximately six weeks before the original trial date of July 14, 1997, Plaintiff served Defendants a document entitled Plaintiff's Witness List for Trial. This list included fifteen witnesses that had not been previously disclosed by Plaintiff and were not personnel of Trigg Hospital. Even though the original trial date was imminent, Plaintiff failed to disclose the substance of these witnesses' testimony but stated in a cover letter that [t]hese are friends and colleagues only and will testify about Martin's life. Plaintiff further indicated that she would, of course, not call all of them and [would] provide a final list, when determined, by the last part of June, approximately two weeks before trial. Finally, Plaintiff informed Defendants that she would also be calling her expert witnesses. She attached a report from an economist, Dr. Brian McDonald, outlining his opinions concerning economic damages. Plaintiff had not previously disclosed this witness to Defendants, even though Dr. McDonald's report was dated February 26, 1997. {8} On June 9, 1997, Defendant Ortiz filed a motion to exclude the fifteen fact witnesses disclosed by Plaintiff on May 30, 1997. Defendant Ortiz argued that Plaintiff's late disclosure of witnesses violated the rules of discovery and, due to the lack of specificity with respect to which of the witnesses would testify and the subject matter of the testimony, prejudiced Defendants' ability to depose Plaintiff's witnesses and to prepare rebuttal. In response to this motion, on June 11, 1997, Plaintiff agreed not to call the fifteen fact witnesses identified on May 30, 1997, but still intended to call the late-identified expert, Dr. McDonald, as well as Penny Griner, an employee of University Hospital, and Sharon Faison, an employee of Trigg Hospital. Defendant Samson then filed a motion to exclude these three witnesses on the basis of late disclosure. {9} The district court held a hearing on the motion to exclude the witnesses on June 30, 1997. At the hearing, Defendant Samson argued that Plaintiff ignored the rules of discovery by disclosing her witnesses at such a late date. Plaintiff did not provide an explanation for the late disclosure. Instead, Plaintiff merely characterized the late disclosure of Dr. McDonald and Griner as her oversight[s]. She informed the court that Dr. McDonald was a necessary witness for her case and requested a continuance of the case in lieu of excluding Dr. McDonald's testimony. Plaintiff intended to call Griner to testify concerning the transfer telephone calls made by Defendants and, in particular, Defendant Ortiz's assertion that he first called University Hospital to request a transfer for Lewis at 3:06 a.m. instead of 3:57 a.m. Griner was not on duty on the night of the call and had no personal knowledge about the calls received by University Hospital on that night, but according to Plaintiff, Griner was familiar with the hospital's routine procedures for taking in-coming calls. Plaintiff indicated that she had not yet spoken with Griner and that she was not certain which party would benefit from Griner's testimony about hospital procedure. Plaintiff intended to introduce Faison's testimony to establish that rib spreaders were available at Trigg Hospital on the night of Lewis's stabbing. Plaintiff argued to the court that Defendants had access to Faison as an employee of Trigg Hospital and that Defendants were aware of her anticipated testimony because Faison completed an affidavit earlier in the case. {10} In response to Plaintiff's arguments, Defendant Samson contended that an oversight did not excuse Plaintiff's failure to disclose Dr. McDonald and Griner. Additionally, Defendants argued that Plaintiff was previously aware of the disputed issue of Defendant Ortiz's telephone call to University Hospital and that Plaintiff's failure to identify Griner at an earlier date caused them to believe that all issues involving personnel from University Hospital had been resolved by Plaintiff's settlement of her claim against the hospital. Defendants also stated that Griner's availability prior to the original trial date appeared questionable. Defendants thus contended that they would be prejudiced by Plaintiff's late disclosure of Griner. Defendants finally contended that Faison's testimony would be cumulative of an admission made by Defendant Samson that rib spreaders were available at Trigg Hospital at the time of treatment. {11} The district court ruled that, to the extent that Faison's testimony would be cumulative of Defendant Samson's admission, it would be excluded. The court also found that Plaintiff was aware of the issue of the telephone conversations with University Hospital from the very beginning of the case and that, as a result, Griner would be excluded due to Plaintiff's untimely disclosure. With respect to Dr. McDonald, the court indicated that Defendants had a right to view his report and that it was improper for Plaintiff to withhold the information. However, the court recognized that Dr. McDonald's testimony would be important to Plaintiff's case and denied Defendants' request to exclude Dr. McDonald's testimony in the interest of fairness. {12} Typically, under our Rules of Civil Procedure, [a] party who has responded to a request for discovery with a response that was complete when made is under no duty to supplement the party's response to include information thereafter acquired. Rule 1-026(E) NMRA 2001. However, an exception to this general rule applies in this case. A party is under a duty seasonably to supplement the party's response with respect to any question directly addressed to the identity of each person expected to be called as a witness at trial, the subject matter on which the party is expected to testify and the substance of the party's testimony. Rule 1-026(E)(1). This exception applies to both fact witnesses and expert witnesses, the latter of which are subject to discovery as specifically provided in Rule 1-026(B)(5)(a) (requiring that a party identify each person whom the ... party expects to call as an expert witness at trial, to state the subject matter on which the expert is expected to testify, and to state the substance of the facts and opinions to which the expert is expected to testify and a summary of the grounds for each opinion). Furthermore, the failure to comply with the duty seasonably to supplement the disclosure of witnesses subjects a party to the discovery sanctions provided in Rule 1-037(B)(2) NMRA 2001. See Allred ex rel. Allred v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of N.M., 1997-NMCA-070, ¶ 19, 123 N.M. 545, 943 P.2d 579 (applying Rule 1-037(B)(2) to the failure to supplement answers to interrogatories in a proper manner); see also Rule 1-037(D) (providing that, in response to a failure to serve answers or objection to interrogatories, the trial court may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just, and among others it may take any action authorized under Subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B of this rule). {13} We review a trial court's decision to impose discovery sanctions under Rule 1-037(B)(2) for an abuse of discretion. United Nuclear Corp. v. Gen. Atomic Co., 96 N.M. 155, 239, 629 P.2d 231, 315 (1980) (It is well-settled that the choice of sanctions under Rule [1-037] lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. Only an abuse of that discretion will warrant reversal. (footnote omitted)). Applying this standard of review, we will disturb the trial court's ruling only when the trial court's decision is clearly untenable or contrary to logic and reason. Newsome v. Farer, 103 N.M. 415, 420, 708 P.2d 327, 332 (1985). Moreover, whereas we more closely scrutinize, albeit still under an abuse of discretion standard, the severe sanction of dismissal, we entrust sanctions short of dismissal to the sound discretion of the trial court. Gonzales v. Surgidev Corp., 120 N.M. 151, 158, 899 P.2d 594, 601 (1995); accord Marchman v. NCNB Tex. Nat'l Bank, 120 N.M. 74, 91, 898 P.2d 709, 726 (1995) (Lesser sanctions ... may be applied `to any failure to comply with discovery orders.' (quoting United Nuclear, 96 N.M. at 202, 629 P.2d at 278)). Excluding a witness, while still a drastic remedy, is `one of the lesser sanctions' available to the court. Shamalon Bird Farm, Ltd. v. United States Fid. & Guar. Co., 111 N.M. 713, 716, 809 P.2d 627, 630 (1991) (quoting Jenzake v. City of Brookfield, 108 Wis.2d 537, 322 N.W.2d 516, 519 (App.1982)). Finally, we note that the trial court is not required to exhaust less severe sanctions in imposing a just remedy for a violation of discovery rules. See Gonzales, 120 N.M. at 158, 899 P.2d at 601. {14} The record indicates that Plaintiff failed to supplement her answers to interrogatories concerning the identity of her witnesses at trial and therefore violated her duty under Rule 1-026(E)(1). Additionally, Plaintiff failed to respond to a specific request by Defendants to supplement her answers to interrogatories. With only approximately six weeks remaining before the original trial date, Plaintiff identified numerous previously undisclosed fact witnesses. At that same time, Plaintiff also offered a previously undisclosed expert witness, even though the date of the expert's report clearly indicated Plaintiff's prior awareness of this witness. Despite having the expert's report, Plaintiff did not include this witness in her answers to interrogatories, did not supplement her answers to interrogatories to disclose this witness, and did not disclose the witness's report, in violation of her duties under Rule 1-026(B)(5)(a). {15} Rule 1-037(B)(2)(b) provides that a trial court may respond to an abuse of discovery by refusing to allow the disobedient party to support or oppose designated claims or defenses, or prohibiting that party from introducing designated matters in evidence. Additionally, we have said that, [i]n any just search for truth, a trial court must have broad discretion to admit or refuse testimony of witnesses whose identity was not revealed in answers to pretrial interrogatories. Montoya v. Super Save Warehouse Foods, 111 N.M. 212, 215, 804 P.2d 403, 406 (1991). [1] In this case, there were numerous violations of the rules of discovery with respect to the requirement of timely witness disclosure. This type of conduct, if tolerated, would frustrate the general purposes of discovery and the specific purpose of witness disclosure. See, e.g., State v. Ruiz, 119 N.M. 515, 521, 892 P.2d 962, 968 (Ct.App.1995) (The purpose of witness disclosure rules is to give parties a fair opportunity to test the credibility of the witnesses and to eliminate surprise and gamesmanship.); Redman v. Bd. of Regents, 102 N.M. 234, 238, 693 P.2d 1266, 1270 (Ct.App.1984) (The discovery rules were adopted in the first place to eliminate surprise and allow for full preparation of a case.). {16} The record indicates that the district court took into account the potential prejudice to Defendants from the discovery violations and the importance of the evidence to Plaintiff's case. The court also considered whether Plaintiff's conduct was excusable by ascertaining Plaintiff's prior awareness of the need for the late-disclosed witnesses. The court indicated an intention to ensure fairness to both parties. Based on these considerations, the district court entered the lesser sanction of excluding two of Plaintiff's witnesses, Griner and Faison, while allowing Plaintiff to call her third undisclosed witness, Dr. McDonald. {17} In this case, Plaintiff demonstrated a repeated disregard for the rules of discovery. Cf. Allred, 123 N.M. 545, 943 P.2d 579, 1997-NMCA-070, ¶ 15 (Plaintiffs consistently failed to timely comply with the requirements to supplement interrogatories.). The district court, after balancing the interests of both parties, imposed the lesser sanction of excluding Plaintiff's witnesses under Rule 1-037(B)(2)(b) and limited its ruling to witnesses that were, based on Plaintiff's proffer, relatively unimportant to Plaintiff's case. Reviewing the full record in this case, we believe there is substantial evidence in the record to support the district court's decision. Thus, we conclude that the district court acted well within its discretion in its imposition of sanctions for Plaintiff's violation of the rules of discovery.