Opinion ID: 1605808
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: did the trial court err when it excluded an expert witness offered by sandra at trial?

Text: ¶ 10. Issues I, II, and III arise from and/or relate to the same grievance and will be addressed together. Sandra contends that the trial court excluded numerous documents, along with an expert witness, based on either untimely production or untimely notification under the rules of discovery. Sandra asserts that this ruling was prejudicial to her case, as it prevented her from using evidence concerning her contributions to the marital assets and Henry's dissipation of vast amounts of money due to gambling. Sandra maintains that, instead of excluding the documents and the expert witness, the chancellor had every opportunity to grant a continuance of the trial in order to allow Henry time to review the documents and to prepare for her expert witness. ¶ 11. This Court reviews a trial judge's decision to impose sanctions for discovery abuses under an abuse-of-discretion standard. Ladner v. Ladner, 436 So.2d 1366, 1371 (Miss.1983). The decision will be affirmed unless there is a definite and firm conviction that the court below committed a clear error of judgment in the conclusion it reached upon weighing of relevant factors. Cooper v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 568 So.2d 687, 692 (Miss.1990) (citation omitted). The decision to grant or deny a continuance is left to the sound discretion of the chancellor, and will not be reversed unless there is shown a manifest abuse of discretion. Rives v. Rives, 416 So.2d 653, 656 (Miss.1982).
¶ 12. The record shows that the parties engaged in protracted discovery throughout this case. On May 2, 2006, two days before trial, Sandra produced approximately 1,700 pages of documents as supplementation to discovery. [1] The matter was not brought to the trial court's attention until the day before trial when Sandra moved for a continuance to allow Henry additional time to review the documents, which the trial court denied. The record is unclear as to exactly what the documents consisted of, but indicates that a number of them apparently were records from various casinos that were to be used as evidence to establish Henry's alleged problem with gambling. [2] ¶ 13. When trial began the next day, Henry's counsel, on his promise, objected to the first document Sandra attempted to introduce on the basis that it was untimely supplemented. A lengthy back-and-forth between counsel then ensued regarding all of the documents produced on May 2. In his ruling, the trial judge held that, even though the documents were not timely produced for discovery, he would not exclude them outright from the trial; instead, he would admit them individually during trial if admissible and properly authenticated. The record reveals, however, that because a number of the documents could not be authenticated, most were not allowed into evidence. ¶ 14. A trial court's authority for imposing sanctions for discovery violations derives from two sources: Rule 37 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure and a trial court's inherent power to protect the integrity of its process. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. McGill, 890 So.2d 859, 864 (Miss.2004) (citations omitted). Both Rule 37(e) and a trial court's own authority provide our trial judges great flexibility with which to deal summarily with discovery abuses, whenever and however the abuse is brought to the attention of the court. See M.R.C.P. 37 cmt.; and Herrington v. Herrington, 660 So.2d 215, 219 (Miss.1994) (Under the inherent power of courts to protect the integrity of their process, courts may impose sanctions without a court order.) (citations omitted). As has been said by this Court, our procedural rules are designed to assure to the maximum extent practicable that cases be decided on their merits, and not decided based on one party's unfair ambush. Harris v. Gen. Host Corp., 503 So.2d 795, 796-97 (Miss.1986). ¶ 15. While there is no clear indication of deliberate gamesmanship at play here, the failure to produce the documents in a timely manner was consequential nonetheless. The trial judge, faced with a decision of whether to grant a continuance at the expense of the nonfaulting party or whether to proceed forward provisionally, chose in his discretion what he believed was more in the interest of justice and fair play. Huff v. Polk, 408 So.2d 1368, 1371 (Miss.1982). ¶ 16. The record supports this finding. Sandra failed to provide the trial court with a reasonable explanation for not having produced these documents in a timely manner. The trial court's decision on this point is affirmed.
¶ 17. On day two of the trial, Sandra sought to proffer the testimony of Tom Dial, a private investigator, who supposedly had witnessed Henry's visits to various casinos. Henry moved to exclude the investigator's testimony on the basis that Dial's investigative reports had not been produced until nine days before trial, on April 25, and that Sandra had not disclosed that he was to testify at trial until May 1, three days before trial. ¶ 18. The trial court heard arguments from both sides on the matter. According to the record, Sandra had disclosed at her deposition held on March 16, 2006, that she had a private investigator. The record shows that Sandra possessed the investigator's reports for at least seven months prior to producing them on April 25. ¶ 19. The trial court found that Sandra had failed to timely provide the name of an expert witness and ruled that Dial would not be permitted to testify as to the contents of his investigative reports. At that point, Sandra again moved for a continuance to allow Henry additional time to prepare for her expert witness. That motion was denied. ¶ 20. Pursuant to Rule 26(f) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, discovery responses are to be supplemented seasonably. There is no bright-line rule as to what amounts to seasonable supplementation. Eastover Bank for Sav. v. Hall, 587 So.2d 266, 272 (Miss.1991). Rather, seasonableness must be determined on a case by case basis looking at the totality of the circumstances surrounding the supplemental information the offering party seeks to admit. Blanton v. Bd. of Supervisors, 720 So.2d 190, 196 (Miss.1998). ¶ 21. We note at the outset that, even though Dial was designated as an expert witnesses, the record negates categorizing him as the type of expert contemplated by Rule 26(b)(4)(A)(i) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. [3] The record clearly shows that Dial, while maybe a witness with expertise, was foremost an occurrence witness. In other words, having directly observed Henry's visits to casinos, conduct which Sandra alleges was detrimental to the marital estate, Dial was a witness to events at issue in this case. Thus, pursuant to Rule 26(b)(1) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, both Dial's identity and the subject matter of his proposed testimony were discoverable matters. See also Ladner v. Ladner, 436 So.2d 1366,1372 (Miss.1983) (a party is entitled to a list of occurrence witnesses during discovery). ¶ 22. After having responded in her deposition that she had hired a private investigator, Sandra, without reasonable explanation, waited until three days before trial to disclose that the investigator was to testify as a witness. When Henry moved to exclude that testimony, Sandra again requested a continuance so as to allow Henry additional time to prepare. The trial judge denied her request for the same reason he denied her request with regard to the untimely supplemented documents. Based on the record, this Court cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion both by excluding Dial as a witness and denying Sandra's request for a continuance. Issues I, II, and III are without merit.