Opinion ID: 575266
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Telephone Testimony

Text: 16 Exsaco argues that the district court committed prejudicial error by admitting Richard Keyworth's telephone testimony in violation of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Because no federal appellate court has ruled on this question, we will closely examine the law in this area. Our starting place is Rule 43(a) which states [i]n all trials the testimony of witnesses shall be taken orally in open court, unless otherwise provided by an Act of Congress or by these rules, the Federal Rules of Evidence, or other rules adopted by the Supreme Court. 17 One federal decision addresses whether Rule 43(a) permits telephone testimony. 2 The court in Official Airline Guides, Inc. v. Churchfield Publications, Inc., 756 F.Supp. 1393 (D.Or.1990), approved, over a party's objections, the use of telephone testimony under Rule 43(a), stating that the telephone testimony was made in open court under oath. The court noted that it had a greater opportunity to evaluate the testimony of the witnesses through the telephone testimony than through depositions offered by both parties. Id. at 1398 n. 2. 18 We disagree with the Official Airline Guides court's reasoning that telephone testimony qualifies as testimony taken in open court. We believe that Rule 43(a) presupposes that a witness will be physically present in the courtroom to give testimony orally. The Advisory Committee drafted Rule 43(a) to combat the practice in equity of presenting juries with edited depositions of witnesses' testimony. See 9 Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2408, at 331 (1991). The federal rules strongly favor the testimony of live witnesses wherever possible, so that the jury may observe the demeanor of the witness to determine the witness's veracity. See 5 Moore's Federal Practice p 43.03 (1990). For testimony to be presented orally in open court, the witness must be present in the courtroom. See In re Gust, 345 N.W.2d 42, 44 (N.D.1984) (interpreting North Dakota's version of Rule 43(a) as requiring presence of witness for testimony). We know of no exception in either acts of Congress, the Rules of Civil Procedure, or the Rules of Evidence which permits telephone testimony. 3 19 We recognize that the federal rules, as written, contain an anomaly. A party may depose a witness by telephone, in accord with Rule 30(b)(7). The party may then read that deposition to the jury as evidence, under Rule 32(a), so long as the party can prove that the witness cannot attend the proceeding. Thus, had the parties' attorneys deposed Keyworth by telephone, and then read Keyworth's deposition as rebuttal evidence, no violation of the rules would have occurred. However, because of the importance of a party's right to cross-examine and impeach witnesses in the presence of the jury, we interpret exceptions to Rule 43(a), such as Rule 32(a), narrowly. See Lebeck v. William A. Jarvis, Inc., 250 F.2d 285, 294 (3d Cir.1957). 20 Nevertheless, the reception of the telephone testimony amounted to harmless error in this case. The questioned testimony related only to the allegation of strict liability, not to the allegation of negligence, for failure of Exsaco to properly warn and instruct ME employees on reassembly of the Orbiter. The jury decided liability solely on the negligence claim and rejected the strict liability claims against both defendants. 4 Thus, the district court's error did not substantially prejudice Exsaco. Fed.R.Civ.P. 61.