Court Opinion

ID: 9769401
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:49:26.761411+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:02.451772
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer
DOERNER, Commissioner.
In its motion for a rehearing or to transfer relator has called our attention to the brief reference in respondent’s return that at the continued hearing on plaintiff’s motions held on November 14, 1958, “counsel for each of the parties and witness Cox appeared.” The fact that Cox was in court *719on that occasion was not referred to in either the briefs or in oral argument, and was not noticed when the pleadings were reviewed. That Cox was not called to testify by either side is conceded, but the reference in the opinion to relator’s failure to produce Cox should accordingly be deleted, and to that extent the opinion should be modified.
The two principal points raised by relator in its motion are (1) that the questions propounded to Cox during the taking of his deposition as to why he took the photographs were not material because a motion to inspect was not then pending; and (2) that our opinion holds that the party against whom the motion is brought has the burden of proving the movant is not entitled to the relief sought.
The first of these contentions disregards the fact that a deposition is taken not merely to obtain the witness’ testimony regarding the immediate facts giving rise to the cause of action, but for the broader purpose of discovering all other pertinent information which will assist counsel in fully preparing his client’s case for trial, including subsequent interviews with witnesses, interrogatories, and motions to inspect or produce. This case furnishes an excellent example of that procedure, well known to every trial lawyer of any experience. There is nothing in the record before us to indicate that either the plaintiff or her counsel were aware, prior to the taking of Cox’ deposition, that he had taken the photographs. It is admitted that the plaintiff’s motion to inspect was filed and partly heard the day after Cox’ deposition was taken. When Cox’ testimony at his deposition established that he had taken the photographs, relator could reasonably have anticipated that the plaintiff would seek to inspect them and that a motion to do so would logically follow. Our Supreme Court in State ex rel. Terminal R. Ass’n of St. Louis v. Flynn, 363 Mo. 1065, 257 S.W.2d 69, 74, said that a defendant whose employee had been seriously injured by one of its trains could immediately reasonably anticipate that litigation would follow, and that in this day and time no one would be so naive as not to know that such litigation was impending and could reasonably be expected to follow. It seems to us, by the same token, that after litigation has been instituted, when the plaintiff ascertains that defendant has material documentary evidence in his possession, the defendant should reasonably anticipate that the plaintiff will seek to inspect such documents. Hence, defendant here should have known that the questions as to why Cox took the photographs were in anticipation of plaintiff’s impending motion to inspect, and therefore material.
As to relator’s second contention, there is nothing in our opinion which places the burden on a respondent to disprove the allegations of a movant’s motion. What the relator disregards is that relator joined with the plaintiff in requesting the respondent hr this case to pass upon plaintiff’s motion to inspect on the basis of Cox’ deposition. Relator’s error was in relying upon that state of the record on the motion to inspect, instead of calling Cox as a witness to destroy the basis for the unfavorable inference which respondent drew from relator’s directions to Cox, during the taking of his deposition, not to answer the questions as to why he took the pictures.
The Commissioner therefore recommends that the opinion be modified as stated, and that relator’s motion for a rehearing, or in the alternative, to transfer the cause to the Supreme Court, be denied.
PER CURIAM.
The foregoing opinion by DOERNER, C., is adopted as the opinion of the court.
Accordingly, the opinion is modified as stated and relator’s motion for a rehearing, or in the alternative, to transfer the cause to the Supreme Court, is denied.
WOLFE, P. J., and ANDERSON and RUDDY, JJ., concur.