Opinion ID: 413149
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: ryan, fox, and the seashore tape

Text: 18 IH's third point of error relates to the admission of the deposition of Mr. Ryan, the testimony of Ms. Fox, and a videotape of an IH Scout II commercial. Mr. Ryan was involved with the advertising campaign for the Scout II. In his deposition he was shown four videotapes of Scout II commercials. The first three he said were labeled as having been displayed. The fourth he said was labeled as not having been televised. 19 Though Mr. Ryan was not listed as a witness in the pretrial order, the court granted Woods' request to admit deposition testimony. At the time Ryan's deposition was read, the court allowed the first three tapes into evidence, but not the fourth. After the close of IH's defense, Woods called Ms. Fox, who was not listed as a witness. She worked for IH's advertising firm and testified that the fourth tape had in fact been broadcast, so the trial court admitted the fourth tape into evidence. 20 As Woods cogently argues, Ryan's testimony was relevant because it shows how IH marketed the Scout II, which shows how IH foresaw the Scout II would be used. IH was aware of Ryan's deposition months before trial and was not prejudiced by its introduction despite Ryan's omission from the witness list. The fourth tape, the seashore tape, showed a Scout II splashing through water along a seashore and could be quite important to showing foreseeability of use of the Scout II in water deeper than normal vehicles could tolerate. The trial court originally excluded the fourth tape because IH objected that Ryan's deposition indicated it had never been shown. Thus, the decision to admit Ms. Fox's testimony that that tape had been shown was a decision within the trial court's discretion to admit rebuttal testimony. Once Ms. Fox established the predicate that the tape had been shown, the tape was appropriate evidence of IH's marketing strategy and of whether deep water use was foreseeable by IH. 21 We find no error in any of the trial court's rulings on these matters. See, e.g., Miller v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 650 F.2d 1365 (5th Cir.1981); Young v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Co., 618 F.2d 332 (5th Cir.1980).