Opinion ID: 1243172
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did The Trial Court Err In Rerfusing To Permit Surrebuttal?

Text: On rebuttal Bernice Lee testified that on the way home from Mr. Laikin's office, Doris Kamesar asked Samuel Kamesar if the new will satisfied him and he responded, Yes, very. Bernice also testified that subsequently in 1973, after a visit by Jeanette Feldman, Samuel Kamesar told Doris that, She's (Jeanette) gotten all that she's going to get. The trial court refused to permit the objectors to surrebut this testimony. By offer of proof, the objectors showed that if permitted to surrebut, they would have recalled Doris Kamesar, who would have testified that none of these incidents took place. Surrebuttal is proper when facts are introduced for the first time on rebuttal. Anderson v. Anderson, 136 Wis. 328, 331, 117 N.W. 801 (1908); McGowan v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., 91 Wis. 147, 154, 64 N.W. 891 (1895). See generally: 75 Am. Jur.2d, Trial, sec. 152 (1974). The trial court's conclusion that this rule does not apply to a will contest case was based on a description in J. MacDonald, Wisconsin Probate Law And Practice, sec. 6.120 (7th Ed. 1972), of the usual order of proof. According to MacDonald, the order of proof is: (1) Formal proof of execution of a valid will; (2) presentation of the whole of the contestant's case; and (3) extensive rebuttal by the proponent. MacDonald approves of permitting extensive rebuttal by the proponent because the primary burden of proof in such a case is actually on the contestant. However, neither MacDonald nor the single Wisconsin case cited by MacDonald, Will of Faulks, supra, discusses surrebuttal. Neither MacDonald nor this case state that if new facts are adduced on rebuttal, the contestant is not entitled to rebut them. [10] Though we conclude that the trial court erred in not permitting this rebuttal, we conclude the error was harmless because had the rebuttal been given, it would not have changed the results on the issue of undue influence. There was sufficient evidence in the record even if the proffered rebuttal testimony were accepted supporting the trial court's conclusion that the will of Samuel Kamesar was not the result of undue influence. By the Court. Judgment affirmed.