Opinion ID: 1788754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: white marcosky

Text: [A]nd the truth shall make you free. John 8:32 (KJV). The success of every tyrant, corrupt government, or scoundrel depends upon one tactic: concealing the truth. Court trials in a free nation, however, exist for precisely the opposite reason: to bring it all out in the open, to get the whole truth. Michigan v. Harvey, 494 U.S. 344, 351, 110 S.Ct. 1176, 1181, 108 L.Ed.2d 293, 302-03 (1990); Fenlon v. Thayer, 127 N.H. 702, 706, 506 A.2d 319, 321, 66 A.L.R.4th 203, 208 (1986). Indeed, justice itself depends on the judge and jury hearing all the facts in a lawful trial. A judge who denies a party this fundamental right to bring it all before the jury betrays this central purpose of a court. That judge's court becomes something less than a temple of justice and sophistic excuses cannot remove the blot. This glaringly is this case. First, counsel for one side inform the court and opposing counsel that here is a witness we will call and put in the witness chair, and this is what he will testify. Counsel subsequently find that their witness is going to testify precisely opposite to what they had informed the court and opposing parties. Then, counsel have the audacity to tell the other side that they are not going to use this witness, and the other side cannot, either. And the circuit judge lets them get away with it. And this Court approves! Can anyone believe this? Sadly for the jurisprudence of this State, it is true. One of the guarantees of due process of law under our State and the U.S. Constitution is for every litigant to have the jury hear competent testimony from witnesses and any other competent, relevant evidence. Jackson v. Procunier, 789 F.2d 307 (5th Cir.1986); Ryland v. Shapiro, 708 F.2d 967 (5th Cir.1983); Whittley v. City of Meridian, 530 So.2d 1341 (Miss. 1988); McCay v. Jones, 354 So.2d 1095 (Miss. 1978); Wisdom v. Stegall, 219 Miss. 776, 70 So.2d 43 (1954). To avoid burdening the reader with detailed facts regarding Marcosky in the body of this opinion, I have set them out in an attached appendix. In summary, Marcosky was selected by plaintiffs' Michigan lawyer, White, to testify as a witness in this case. In sworn answers to interrogatories, for the court and opposing counsel, plaintiffs named and gave the address of John Marcosky as their expert witness, and informed the court that he would testify on the subject of accident reconstruction and that the subject axle broke prior to the overturning of the GMC Jimmy, and caused the loss of control of the subject GMC Jimmy. Plaintiffs' Michigan counsel subsequently moved to withdraw from the case, stating that Marcosky would testify that the axle broke from impact rather than a defect. Thereafter, over the strenuous objection of plaintiffs' remaining counsel, Marcosky's deposition was taken by the defendants pursuant to court order, at which time he deposed that, from his examination of the damaged parts and materials furnished him, the axle broke as a result of impact during the vehicle's overturning. In no uncertain terms he made it clear that the accident could not have happened as the plaintiffs claimed and there was no way in which his mind could be changed. While plaintiffs had been unsuccessful in preventing the taking of Marcosky's deposition, plaintiffs' subsequently retained counsel by motion in limine succeeded in preventing the use of Marcosky's deposition as well as his testifying at trial. The sole basis for the circuit judge's ruling was that it would violate Rule 26(b)(4) of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendants General Motors and Grenada Sales even sought an interlocutory appeal to this Court to determine the admissibility of this testimony, which was denied. One can only assume from the majority's effrontery in approving exclusion of Marcosky's testimony that no one is going to read the law it cites. First, the majority tells us that Marcosky's testimony was inadmissible under Rule 26(b)(4)(B) Miss.R.Civ.Proc. As any lawyer (or anyone else who reads its plain language) knows, Rule 26 deals only with a party's right to discover information from the opposing side prior to trial, not to trial testimony. Fenlon v. Thayer, 127 N.H. at 706, 506 A.2d at 321, 66 A.L.R. 4th at 208; Granger v. Wisner, 134 Ariz. 377, 381, 656 P.2d 1238, 1242 (1982); Rancourt v. Waterville Urban Renewal Authority, 223 A.2d 303, 305 (Maine 1966). The defense in this case sought to put a long since discovered witness on the witness stand at trial. What has that got to do with pretrial discovery? [1] Second, Marcosky was not a secret, non -testifying expert as the majority baldly asserts. Plaintiffs had informed the defense and court he would appear as a witness and what his testimony would be. It was only after they discovered he would testify precisely opposite that they sought to transform him. Simply put, and as it plainly states, Rule 26(b)(4)(B) applies to instances when a lawyer engages specialists or experts to help him prepare his case. He has no intention that they testify in court, and their information has some confidentiality. [2] Marcosky was not a non -testifying expert, but an announced plaintiffs' witness. The majority does not cite a single authority supporting the proposition that after a party has, by sworn answers to interrogatories (or in any other manner), announced to the court the name and proposed testimony of an expert or any other witness, he can later object to his testifying for the other side. In fact, courts hold that once trial starts, even those non-testifying experts employed solely to assist an attorney in trial preparation can be called as a witness by the opposing side. Fenlon v. Thayer ; Granger v. Wisner ; Cogdell v. Brown, 220 N.J. Super. 330, 531 A.2d 1379 (1987); Knoff v. American Crystal Sugar Co., 380 N.W.2d 313 (N.D. 1986); Rancourt v. Waterville Urban Renewal Authority ; Wishom v. Ford Motor Co., 256 So.2d 298 (La. App. 1971); Pinkett v. Brittingham, 567 A.2d 858 (Del. 1990); Morris v. Maryland, 59 Md. App. 659, 477 A.2d 1206 (1981); Board of Education of South Sanpete, Etc. v. Barton, 617 P.2d 347 (Utah 1980). No party to litigation has anything resembling a proprietary right to any witness's evidence. Cogdell v. Brown, 531 A.2d at 1381. [3] In Knoff the Nebraska Supreme Court noted that a trial court's refusal to permit one of these non-testifying experts from testifying for the opposing side in effect suppressed an eyewitness. 380 N.W.2d at 320.