Opinion ID: 2773214
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion of Fridland’s Testimony

Text: In response to a pretrial motion in limine, the district court concluded that Fridland’s proposed testimony was “likely inadmissible on two grounds.” First, to the extent that Fridland would testify that Whittemore’s alleged interpretation of § 441f was “reasonable,” it was “excludable as a legal conclusion.” Second, the testimony was unlikely to 16 UNITED STATES V. WHITTEMORE assist the jury because, among other things, it “ha[d] nothing to do with Whittemore’s actual beliefs”; it “resulte[d] from a process of reasoning familiar in everyday life,” namely speaking standard American English; and testimony about “something [the jury] already knows” backed by “impressive credentials” could lead the jury to give Fridland’s testimony undue weight. The court denied the motion without prejudice, stating that evidence introduced during the trial could warrant reconsideration. A ruling on a motion in limine is not a final order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 because such rulings “are by their very nature preliminary.” Coursen v. A.H. Robins Co., Inc., 764 F.2d 1329, 1342 (9th Cir. 1985). “Where a district court makes a tentative in limine ruling excluding evidence, the exclusion of that evidence may only be challenged on appeal if the aggrieved party attempts to offer such evidence at trial,” which allows the court make a final ruling. Adkins v. Mireles, 526 F.3d 531, 542 (9th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). Federal Rule of Evidence 103(b) provides, however, that a formal proffer of evidence at trial is not required if the court “rules definitively on the record” to exclude that evidence, either before or at trial. The district court’s ruling was tentative and without prejudice to Whittemore’s renewing his motion. The court specifically noted that it was possible that changed circumstances could “warrant reconsideration” of the court’s initial ruling that Fridland’s testimony was inadmissible. The court thus left Whittemore the opportunity to renew his motion, but he never did so. UNITED STATES V. WHITTEMORE 17