Opinion ID: 1750964
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the right to cross-examine.

Text: The next issue which must be considered is the matter of the court's ruling on the right of the plaintiff to cross-examine Burditt as an adverse party. As already noted, the use of Burditt's deposition, under the circumstances as they existed in this case, did not make Burditt the witness of the plaintiff. This being so, we need not decide in this appeal whether use of an adverse party's deposition under Rule 302.4(3), making the deponent the witness of the party offering the deposition, would or would not affect the right of such party to call his adversary for cross-examination under the statute late in the trial. In the instant case, the court was in error in ruling that the plaintiff was precluded from cross-examining Burditt under the statute. Even the existence of this second error, however, does not require reversal. It must again be determined whether the error was reversibly prejudicial. A separate record, not in the presence of the jury, was made, in which the plaintiff was permitted to pursue the cross-examination of Burditt as fully as he wished. We must look to the separate record then, to determine whether the exclusion of anything elicited therein constituted reversible error. If not, then the trial court's denial of plaintiff's right to cross-examine Burditt was of no moment. A detailed discussion of this follows.