Opinion ID: 863099
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Excluded Testimony of Lay Witnesses

Text: ¶34. After Susie's testimony was completed on March 30, 1998, she called her sister, Judy Koslow. The court first excluded Judy's statement that I could determine from the conversation with me, she seemed to be very upset. When Judy began testifying about an incident she had witnessed when Lawson had demonstrated verbal and physical abuse to Susie, Lawson objected on the grounds that the particular incident had not been mentioned in Susie's response to Interrogatory No. 16. Susie set out in her response that Lawson had demonstrated violent and abusive conduct to her on a continuing daily basis. She then set out numerous incidents of this abuse. In her response to Interrogatory No. 7, she listed the names of all witnesses who she called at trial. The court sustained the objection and excluded all testimony which was not specifically described in Interrogatory Response No. 16. ¶35. M.R.E. 102 states that these rules shall be construed to secure fairness and administration, elimination of unjustifiable expense and delay, and promotion and growth and development of the law of evidence to the end that the truth may be ascertained and proceedings justly determined. To exclude all of the testimony of Susie's witnesses on the grounds that she did not repeat their identity in one interrogatory when they had already been identified in another interrogatory is contrary to both the spirit and the letter of the Rules of Evidence. Lawson had notice of all of the identities of all of Susie's witnesses on October 24, 1997, in ample time to take their depositions, and five months before any of the witnesses were called at trial. He also had notice of all the incidents to which the witnesses would testify except for two instances related by Susie's sister. Lawson suffered no surprise or ambush. Susie suffered irreparable loss when she was not allowed to introduce the testimony of any of her witnesses to the grounds for her divorce on habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. ¶36. While we have upheld the exclusion of lay witness testimony for a party's failure to timely identify the witnesses, the cases cited by Lawson concern gross abuses of discovery which resulted in unfair prejudice and irreparable loss to the opposite party. We have recently reversed and remanded a domestic case for the chancery court's error in excluding evidence. Talbert v. Talbert, 759 So.2d 1105 (Miss.1999). The chancery court had excluded Ms. Talbert's letters written during the course of her therapy with her psychotherapist but had allowed Mr. Talbert to testify about their content. The Court of Appeals ruled it was harmless error but we held that the exclusion of the letters was not harmless and required reversal. Id. at 1109-10. ¶37. We also reversed the trial court in McCollum v. Franklin, 608 So.2d 692, 693-94 (Miss. 1992), holding as error the exclusion of a fact witness as a discovery sanction. The plaintiff sought to call a fact witness whom she failed to list as a witness in her response to interrogatories. The trial court excluded the testimony. In reversing, we stated: It is clear that the trial court failed to properly respond to the objection based on lack of discovery. Exclusion of evidence is a last resort. Every reasonable alternative means of assuring the elimination of any prejudice to the moving party and the proper sanction against the offending party should be explored before ordering exclusion. .................................... Here the information concerning Jefferson as a witness was known to the defendant through the police report and McCollum's deposition. The report contained Jefferson's name, address and telephone number and the notation that he did not actually see the accident. The defendant could not claim surprises at the fact that Jefferson was a witness. The only fact not know to defendant, presumably, is that McCollum would call Jefferson. Id. at 694. ¶38. In Eastover Bank for Savs. v. Hall, 587 So.2d 266, 271 (Miss. 1991), the trial court allowed the testimony of two lay witnesses for Eastover who were not identified to Hall until nine days or less before trial. Counsel for Hall was able to make contact with one of the witnesses before trial. We held that: The predominant concern is whether there has been prejudice to Don Hall. An abuse of discretion on the part of the lower part would be difficult to find otherwise. Mischa Harper and Dorothy Bryant were not expert witnesses, as in several of the cases noted above, and this figured in the lower court's decision as to how much time Don Hall might have needed to prepare for their testimony. Also, Hall had managed to have an investigator interview Harper. We find no abuse of discretion in the chancellor's decision to allow testimony of these two witnesses. ¶39. In support of excluding the testimony of Susie's lay witnesses, Lawson cited Schepens v. Schepens, 592 So.2d 108 (Miss. 1991), which is distinguishable. In Schepens, the husband filed his response to the second set of interrogatories, which included two non-family witnesses only four days before trial. The trial court, nevertheless, refused the wife's motion for continuance to allow her to take the depositions of the witnesses and allowed them to testify. Because the question of custody was close, we held that the wife's lack of an opportunity to prepare for the two adverse, non-family witnesses could have affected the evidence presented and, necessarily, the chancellor's decision. ¶40. Lawson knew the names of all Susie's trial witnesses on October 24, 1997, long before they were called to testify on March 30, 1998, and in ample time to take their deposition or investigate the basis of their testimony in preparation for cross-examination. Susie had identified all of the lay witnesses who she called at trial when she responded to Lawson's Interrogatory No. 7. Lawson knew the identity of all the witnesses who might be called at trial. The exclusion of Susie's evidence was devastating to her case and its admission would have resulted in no injury or surprise to Lawson. Further, for a case to be reversed on the admission or exclusion of evidence, it must result in prejudice and harm or adversely affect a substantial right of a party. Terrain Enters., Inc. v. Mockbee, 654 So.2d 1122, 1131 (Miss. 1995). Error is reversible only where it is of such magnitude as to leave no doubt that the appellant was unduly prejudiced. In re Estate of Mask, 703 So.2d 852, 859 (Miss. 1997). This is just such a case. The chancery court abused its discretion in excluding this evidence.