Opinion ID: 2211525
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Proper Rebuttal Testimony

Text: We are not persuaded by the defendants' argument that McCullough was obligated to present Sobek in her case in chief. Rebuttal evidence is evidence which tends to explain, contradict, or disprove an adversary's evidence. Watkins v. State (1988), Ind., 528 N.E.2d 456, 459. Trial courts may exclude testimony offered in rebuttal which should have been presented in the party's case in chief. Carter v. Aetna Life Ins. Co. (1940), 217 Ind. 282, 292, 27 N.E.2d 75, 78-79. However, such a decision is left to the sound discretion of the trial court. Ind. Trial Rule 43(C); Watkins, 528 N.E.2d at 459. We need not decide whether under the facts of this case Sobek's testimony should have been presented in the plaintiff's case in chief because the record reveals that the trial court excluded Sobek's testimony on the grounds that plaintiff had not disclosed Sobek as an expert witness, not on the grounds that Sobek's testimony was improper rebuttal.