Opinion ID: 1897265
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: did the trial court err in allowing the defendant to introduce the surveillance films of williams which were taken just prior to and during trial?

Text: In the plaintiff's request for production, he asked Dixie Electric to: Produce any and all photographs (still or moving) made by the defendant, or anyone representing defendant, of the scene of the injury, the pole which was involved in said injury, or any other photographs relating to the subject matter relating to this litigation or of the plaintiff. Williams complains that the trial judge should not have admitted the video tapes because Dixie Electric failed to disclose their existence prior to trial. This Court has developed strict discovery rules in order to avoid trial by ambush and to insure each party has a reasonable time to prepare for trial. We are committed to the discovery rules because they promote fair trials. Once an opponent requests discoverable material, an attorney has a duty to comply with the request regardless of the advantage a surprise may bring. Harris v. General Host Corp., 503 So.2d 795, 797 (Miss. 1986); Tolbert v. State, 441 So.2d 1374, 1375 (Miss. 1983). As is evident in this case, attorneys are reluctant to abide by discovery rules when they can profit by catching their opponents unaware. Dixie Electric tried to argue the surveillance films were offered to rebut the plaintiff's case and that rebuttal evidence is not discoverable. In Harris we rejected a similar contention because only some of an undisclosed witnesses' testimony rebutted the plaintiff's evidence. We added, if we accepted such a theory, there would be no basis for the principle for ever requiring the defendant to disclose in advance the evidence it would offer at trial, for all such evidence in this sense is rebuttal. Harris, supra, at 797. Dixie Electric relied heavily on the surveillance films to question the extent of Williams' injury and to test his credibility. In Kern v. Gulf Coast Nursing Home of Moss Point, 502 So.2d 1198 (Miss. 1987), the Court allowed an undisclosed witness to testify where the defense attorney demonstrated he had no way of knowing of the existence of the witness before trial and because the witness's testimony was strictly limited to rebuttal. Id. at 1200, 1201. The crucial difference between Kern and this case is that Dixie Electric had the surveillance films four days prior to trial and they knew they would use them at trial. Tolbert v. State, supra , is similar to the case at bar. Tolbert, a defendant in a murder case, threatened the principal witness against him in order to get her to change her testimony. The police wired the witness and reported three conversations between her and Tolbert with the final conversation occurring on the eve of trial. The defendant was unaware of these recordings until the State presented them at trial. On appeal the State argued that the tapes were offered in rebuttal and were not subject to court ordered discovery. We rejected that argument: There is no distinction in an incriminating statement being offered by the State's case in chief, or reserving it for rebuttal, the accused is nevertheless entitled to discovery so as not to be caught by surprise at trial ... the State was justified in refraining from informing the defendant of its recordings while the investigation and criminal activities of Tolbert were in progress. We must hold, however, that after a court has entered a discovery order, it must be complied with in some meaningful way. In this case, this would mean that at some point before trial began, Tolbert and his counsel should have been given an opportunity to listen to his recorded conversation, and make a transcription. Id. at 1375, 1376. Surveillance films may be used to test an opponent's case. Trapp v. Cayson, 471 So.2d 375, 380-381 (Miss. 1985); Jesco, Inc. v. Shannon, 451 So.2d 694, 702 (Miss. 1984); Burnham v. Nowell, 243 Miss. 441, 138 So.2d 493 (1962). As we said in Tolbert, the State, like the defendant herein, is justified in refraining from informing defendant of its recordings while the surveillance was in progress, but it must still comply with discovery in some meaningful way. The values of surprise could be largely preserved by providing discovery or pre-trial revelation of impeachment material which falls within the present category only at a time shortly before trial, and only after the party asked about the existence and nature of such material had been given an opportunity  ordinarily by deposition  to commit the inquiring party to a final version of the events and claims related to the impeachment material. This procedure should forestall most conforming testimony, and would afford a reasonably effective means of embarrassing those who might still attempt to meet the impeaching material in untruthful ways. At the same time, it would be possible to prepare to meet impeaching material which is susceptible of honest explanation or refutation. Having preserved the values of surprise, there would be no remaining reasons to deny discovery    Cooper, Work Product of the Rulesmakers, 53 Minn.L.Rev. 1269, 1318 (1969), quoted in C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2015 (1970). Once Dixie Electric examined the films on Thursday evening, it had a duty to seasonably tender them to Williams' attorneys. Neither classifying the films as rebuttal nor continuing the surveillance after trial began changed Dixie Electric's duty to comply with discovery. They had a duty to seasonably produce Thursday's surveillance film. In this case, since Dixie Electric obtained the film so close to trial, it should have given Williams' attorneys notice of them and an opportunity to view them prior to trial. Since Dixie Electric failed to comply with discovery rules in a meaningful way, the trial judge should not have admitted the films into evidence. Rule 37(b)(2)(B) and (a) MRCP. [1]