Opinion ID: 1805073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Computer-Generated Diagrams.

Text: Plaintiff filed her petition at law and request for jury trial in February 1991. Although the court administrator had set deadlines for discovery and designation of experts, the parties informally agreed to extend the deadlines for their own convenience. As a consequence, plaintiff did not learn that the defendants' expert intended to use computer-generated diagrams of the accident scene until she took the expert's deposition five days prior to trial on May 1, 1992. Plaintiff then filed a motion in limine requesting that the court exclude the computer-generated diagrams because the defendants had given plaintiff insufficient notice of their intent to use such evidence. The district court denied plaintiff's motion. Trial began on May 6, 1992. During the trial plaintiff objected to defendants' use of the diagrams. The district court overruled this objection and the computer-generated documents were admitted into evidence. Plaintiff argues that the district court should have excluded the diagrams. We review for an abuse of discretion. Preferred Mktg. Assocs. Co. v. Hawkeye Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 452 N.W.2d 389, 393 (Iowa 1990); White v. Citizens Nat'l Bank, 262 N.W.2d 812, 816 (Iowa 1978). The evidence to which plaintiff objects consists of diagrams of the accident scene produced by defendants' expert, an engineer. These diagrams were drawn by a computer. The expert testified that he used the computer as a drafting tool. The computer did not determine where the lines, geometric patterns, and letters should be placed on the drawings. Rather, the expert made those calculations and decisions, entered that data into the computer, and the computer drew the diagrams. Plaintiff contends that the use of the diagrams should have been prohibited for two reasons. First, plaintiff argues defendants did not comply with the discovery requirements of Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 125(c) requiring disclosure of expert information at least thirty days before trial. Secondly, plaintiff contends a party should be required to give advance notice of an intent to use computer-generated documents. She claims jurors are unduly persuaded by computer-generated evidence. Advance notice would give the opposing party an adequate opportunity to rebut or impeach such evidence. Plaintiff argues that in the absence of advance notice, the prejudicial effect of one party's use of computer evidence outweighs its probative value. Plaintiff asserts that such evidence is inadmissible under these circumstances. See Iowa R.Evid. 403. See generally Randolph A. Bain and Cynthia King, Guidelines for the Admissibility of Evidence Generated by Computer for Purposes of Litigation, 15 U.C.Davis L.Rev. 951, 961-62 (1982). Turning first to plaintiff's complaint based on rule 125, we note that defendants did not reveal their expert and produce the diagrams within the time constraints of rule 125 or in accordance with the deadlines set by the court administrator. However, the record is clear that the parties informally agreed to proceed with discovery beyond the deadlines imposed by the rules and the scheduling order. Plaintiff cannot now complain that defendants' late disclosure of the computer-drawn diagrams violated rule 125(c). Cf. Marine Am. State Bank v. Lincoln, 433 N.W.2d 709, 713 (Iowa 1988) (defendants could not seek sanctions under Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 134(b) where they filed neither a motion to compel nor a motion for sanctions prior to the late production of documents); Provenzano v. Wetrich, McKeown & Haas, P.C., 481 N.W.2d 536, 540 (Iowa App. 1991) (plaintiff waived right to object to late designation of one of defendants' experts because of parties' agreement to designate an additional expert beyond the time limitations imposed by Iowa Code section 668.11 (1989)). Nor do we believe that the trial court abused its discretion in concluding that the admission of these diagrams did not unfairly prejudice the plaintiff. The diagrams were merely mechanical drawings made by a computer and the expert who prepared them was available for cross-examination. Under these circumstances, the trial court was well within its discretion in admitting the drawings into evidence. Cf. Perma Research & Dev. v. Singer Co., 542 F.2d 111, 115 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 987, 97 S.Ct. 507, 50 L.Ed.2d 598 (1976) (not abuse of discretion to admit expert testimony concerning results of computer simulation).