Opinion ID: 337924
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Surprise Liability Testimony by Undisclosed Experts

Text: 15 Bombardier recognizes that a trial court's ruling on Rule 60(b) motions regarding surprise testimony and the noncompliance with the pretrial order will not be disturbed except upon a showing of an abuse of discretion. It urges, however, this court to follow Brennan v. Midwestern United Life Insurance Co., 450 F.2d 999, 1003 (7th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 921, 92 S.Ct. 957, 30 L.Ed.2d 792 (1972), which recognized that judgments which are vehicles of injustice should not be left to stand. The appellant urges that the surprise testimony of plaintiff-appellee's witnesses Kwaterski and Gates on the cause-effect relationship of a breaking main leaf on the operation of a snowmobile violates the pretrial order and renders the judgment in favor of the plaintiff a vehicle of injustice. 16 The issue here first came into focus when Kwaterski, who was engaged in the business of selling and repairing snowmobiles, took the stand. Defense counsel objected to the question of whether Kwaterski had had occasion to see broken main leaf springs on Ski-Doo snowmobiles, stating that he had never met the witness before and that he didn't know what he was going to say. Initially, the court overruled the objection when he was informed that Kwaterski had been listed as a witness. The court thereupon observed that the defense could have deposed the proposed witness. When it was brought to the attention of the court that the pretrial report was filed subsequent to the cutoff date for discovery, the district court, obviously recognizing the problem, excused the jury to pursue the purpose of the testimony. The plaintiff indicated Kwaterski would testify that during the years in question Ski-Doos had been brought to his place of business with broken main leaf springs and that officials and representatives of the defendant were aware of the breakage problem. Counsel also pointed out to the court that the name had been disclosed on the witness list and therefore would have been available to the defense for the purpose of having his statement taken as defense counsel apparently had with other persons. 2 The district court, however, sustained the objection, pointing out that there had not been compliance with the cutoff date. An offer to prove then followed, the gist of which was that Kwaterski would testify that he had had experience with broken main leaf springs on Ski-Doos during the years in question and that from his own personal knowledge and experience if a main leaf spring broke there would be a loss of control over the vehicle since the ski would no longer have any steering ability. As counsel then started to put Gates, the other witness belatedly disclosed, on the stand, it was brought to the attention of the trial judge that the defense witness list had also been tardily furnished. Whereupon, the court observed: 17 Well, I think in the interest of justice, I will allow the previous witness to testify and I will allow Mr. Gates. We'll see where we go from here. 18 After further extended colloquy out of the presence of the jury and the court continuing to indicate that the witnesses would be permitted to testify, the defendant stipulated that the spring was defective but did not stipulate that the defective spring caused the accident nor that it had notice of the defect. 19 During the subsequent testimony of the two witnesses, they were examined with regard to what happened after their observation of broken springs. The defendant objected that such questions called for an expert opinion, that the witnesses were not established as experts, and that, if experts, they had not been listed as such in the plaintiff's pretrial report. The court agreed they had not been so listed but observed that the testimony was not being given as expert testimony. On appeal, the primary thrust of the present contention by Bombardier is that the testimony was clearly expert testimony. 20 It appears to us that the question of the expertness or nonexpertness of witnesses Gates and Kwaterski must be viewed in light of the precise nature of the testimony elicited by the plaintiff and the nature of the issue to which they spoke. It was the plaintiff's position that the defective left main leaf spring broke during normal operation of the Ski-Doo snowmobile and that thereafter an immediate flipping of the machine took place. Bombardier took the position throughout the trial that any loss of control must have occurred before the leaf spring broke and that the leaf spring breakage did not cause any loss of control or the accident. It was this issue of a possible reason for any loss of control to which the direct examination of Mr. Kwaterski and a part of the examination of Mr. Gates related. 21 On direct examination, Kwaterski stated that he had seen ten Ski-Doos in operation with broken leaf springs and that he had ridden as many as ten such machines. He stated it was next to impossible to control the machine over a speed of five miles per hour if the spring was broken. He stated that the ski on such a machine acts like a fish. Mr. Gates, a semi-retired snowmobile dealer, testified primarily about notice to Bombardier of the defective condition of the leaf spring assemblies, but he did testify briefly on direct examination that he had observed a loss of control from the breaking of main leaf springs. 3 22 The witnesses were not asked, in terms, to conclude what happens when a spring breaks. This was something left for the jury to decide. They were only asked to relate what they had seen happen to the snowmobiles they had seen and ridden with broken leaf springs. Neither witness was asked on direct examination to go beyond the relating of what had happened to them when using such snowmobiles. The fact that upon cross-examination, questions were put to the witnesses by Bombardier which could be construed as calling for them to opine as experts does not control whether their testimony on behalf of the party calling them was that of experts. 23 We recognize that the plaintiff's counsel were skating very close to the line dividing expert from lay testimony, and we think that total candor might have required them to indicate that Kwaterski and Gates did have some expert ability. However, the two witnesses were listed in the pretrial report. Nor does the record support a conclusion that there was a knowing concealment such as is prohibited by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(e). The testimony offered by Kwaterski and Gates assumed new significance after the stipulation regarding the defective condition of the spring, but the plaintiff could not have foreseen exactly how midtrial developments might interact with her witness list. 24 Trial judges must be permitted wide latitude in guiding cases through preparatory stages, and their decisions as to the extent that pretrial activity should prevent introduction of otherwise competent and relevant testimony at trial must not be disturbed unless it is demonstrated that they have clearly abused the broad discretion vested in them by Rule 16. See Davis v. Duplantis, 448 F.2d 918 (5th Cir. 1971). The determination as to whether or not parties should be held to pretrial orders is a matter for the discretion of district court judges. De Laval Turbine, Inc. v. West India Industries, Inc., 502 F.2d 259, 263 (3d Cir. 1974). 25 In the instant case, the trial judge determined that the testimony as to what had happened after main spring breakage insofar as control of an Olympic 399 machine was concerned was competent and relevant. The questioning took place only after the district judge had confronted and rejected the appellant's argument regarding the alleged noncompliance with the pretrial order. But even if Gates and Kwaterski were to be regarded as undisclosed expert witnesses, and we are not persuaded that the district court was incorrect in not so regarding them, this court would not interfere with the trial court's determination not to hold the appellee to the pretrial order unless there was a clear abuse of discretion or manifest injustice. 26 Rule 16 itself indicates that pretrial conferences are held in order to produce agreement among the parties and the trial judge as to the scope of the issues in the particular case and the admission of uncontested items of evidence. The order which follows such conferences is intended to be tailored to the particular case and to reflect agreements made by the parties. Peter Eckrich and Sons, Inc. v. Selected Meat Co., 512 F.2d 1158, 1164 (7th Cir. 1975). Although proper implementation of the rule requires that pretrial orders should not become mere boilerplate, Rule 16 itself contemplates that the pretrial order may be modified at the trial to prevent manifest injustice. 27 In view of all of the circumstances, it is our holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the testimony of Kwaterski and Gates to be presented to the jury. 28