Opinion ID: 2165207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Kelsey Deposition

Text: In 1988 the Mondellos sought treatment for their injuries from Dr. Karl Kelsey. Kelsey is a specialist in diseases related to exposure to toxic substances. The Mondellos offered Kelsey's deposition at the trial in lieu of live testimony pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 32(a)(3). [2] The Mondellos argued that they were entitled to introduce the entire, unredacted deposition pursuant to an agreement of the parties. In their argument before the trial court, the Mondellos distinguished trial depositions from discovery depositions. Trial depositions, according to the Mondellos, are taken pursuant to an agreement of all parties that the deposition is to be introduced in its entirety at trial. They agreed with the defendants that discovery depositions may be used at trial in some circumstances, but only after each party is allowed to redact portions of its own examination of the witness. General Electric, which hoped to redact portions of its cross-examination of Kelsey, disputed the existence of any deposition agreement. For the first time on appeal, the Mondellos contend that Rule 32 does not allow General Electric to redact portions of its cross-examination of Kelsey. The trial court, however, had accepted the distinction, suggested by the Mondellos, between trial depositions and discovery depositions. The court accepted the view that for a deposition to be admissible in its entirety, the parties must clearly understand that it is intended to be used at trial. Finding no such understanding among the parties, the court ruled that each party owns the questions that they asked. An interpretation of the rules is subject to plenary review on appeal. See Fraser v. Barton, 628 A.2d 146, 148 (Me.1993). The distinction between discovery depositions and trial depositions and their admissibility under Rule 32 is supported neither by case law nor the language of the rule. [3] The rule simply provides that any part or all of a deposition may be used against any party who was present at the deposition. Moreover, under Rule 32(a)(3), the deposition of a witness may be used by any party for any purpose. Finally, pursuant to Rule 32(a)(4), if a party offers part of a deposition, then any party may introduce any other parts. The rules of evidence provide the only limitation on the use of depositions under Rule 32. Because the parties' distinction between trial and discovery depositions is unfounded, the court's ruling that each party owns its own questions was erroneous. The Mondellos not only failed properly to object to the trial court's application of Rule 32, they embraced the dichotomy between discovery depositions and trial depositions. The Mondellos limited their argument to proving an agreement of the parties requiring use of the entire deposition. After the court made its ruling, the Mondellos objected but did not expand the ground for the objection beyond the court's failure to find an agreement. Moreover, with respect to all but a small portion of the excluded testimony, the Mondellos made no proper offer of proof. [4] When a party fails properly to preserve an objection to the exclusion of evidence, the scope of appellate review is very narrow. We will review the record only to determine whether the trial court's error violates substantial rights of a party. Dolloff v. Dolloff, 593 A.2d 1044, 1046 (Me.1991). See also McLaughlin v. Sy, 589 A.2d 448, 451 (Me.1991). The instant case is similar to Parker-Danner Co. v. Nickerson, 554 A.2d 1193 (Me.1989). The Parker-Danner defendant failed to object when the trial court measured the admissibility of expert testimony against the wrong legal standard, and we found no obvious error affecting substantial rights, even though the court's error deprived the defendant of its only expert witness. Id. at 1195. In the instant case, the trial court's error did not affect the Mondellos' rights even to that extent, Their failure, therefore, properly to preserve their objection to the court's ruling is fatal to their appeal. No other issues raised on appeal merit discussion. The entry is: Judgment affirmed. All concurring.