Court Opinion

ID: 9448143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:24:11.060534+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:18.410694
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice REED
(dissenting).
The importance of this case in the development of sound pre-trial procedure in the federal courts leads me to express my dissent. It is the first case known to me that tends to weaken the effectiveness of federal pre-trial procedure as adopted by Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Rule 16 was adopted after favorable experience in several metropolitan centers with pre-trial procedure, and no suggestion of ineffectiveness or unfairness has been made against it.1 By providing for the formulation before trial of the issues to be tried, the rule contributes to orderly and speedy trials and prevents undue use of the tactic of surprise. Its effectiveness to these ends depends in large part upon limiting trials with some strictness to the issues raised in pre-trial orders. This is not to resurrect the excessive formalism of ancient pleading. Clarification, not entrapment, is the goal. A party need only tell his opponent, by whatever language communicates his thought, what it is that he complains of or intends to prove. The rule makes adequate provision to guard against undue rigidity by allowing modification “to prevent manifest injustice” even during the trial.2 No such change was sought in this case. A firm judicial support of the rule will do much to simplify and shorten trials and aid in handling the press of litigation without in any way limiting the right of litigants to secure softening of its rigor before judgment where justice requires.3
I accept the court’s statement of the “overall question” in this case, “whether an issue as to negligence in [the appellee] being on the wrong side of the street was or was not in the case.” By that I understand the court means that the question is whether such negligence was alleged by the pre-trial order on Facts of the Occurrence and Negligence Alleged, set out in the opinion.
I find no such allegation in the pretrial statement. The parties, it is true, stated a fact upon which the appellant might well have based a successful case of negligence, namely that the appellee was in the northbound lane of the road. But this statement was in a section headed “Facts of the Occurrence” and there was nothing to show that the statement was intended to convey information about the appellant’s theory of negligence as a basis for liability. It appears, as a reading of the Facts of the Occurrence, set out in the court’s opinion, will show, as one of many facts identifying the occurrence at issue, stating the time and place of the accident. There is nothing in the statement to the effect that it was a violation of the regulation to be in the northbound lane, and, most important, the pre-trial statement of fact is clearly separated from the section entitled “Negligence Alleged” in which the appellant’s theories of the case appear. It may be that the appellant intended to proceed on the theory that it was negligence to be in the northbound lane, but he did not so inform his opponent. Under no logical reading of the *202words of the statement can this intention be made to appear.
Equally without justification, I think, is the argument of counsel for appellant that driving on the wrong side of the road is comprehended under the allegation of negligence because of “Failure to give full time and attention.” There is no necessary relationship between these two theories of negligence and the record shows nothing as to why the defendant was driving on the wrong side.
The court draws an unjustifiable inference of acquiescence, I think, from appellee’s failure to object to the admission of Traffic Regulation 30(a) (2) as to driving on the wrong side of the street. The defense may have thought it was introduced to lead up to evidence of negligence of the appellee in one or more of ..the categories of “Negligence Alleged.” At any rate, a failure to object to evidence surely does not enlarge the scope of the pretrial order where no motion to amend or enlarge is made.
Nor is it relevant whether or not the defense was surprised by the appellant’s introduction of an issue not previously formulated. Rule 16 provides only one exception to the rule that the pre-trial order controls further proceedings, and that is when the order is later amended. Whether or not the appellee might have anticipated appellant’s mode of attack, he is not required, without amendment of the pre-trial order, to meet a theory for which he was not previously notified to prepare. See Walker v. West Coast Fast Freight, Inc., 9 Cir., 1956, 233 F.2d 939.
Finally, I do not believe the court is correct in stating that, on a motion by the defense for directed verdict, a plaintiff’s pre-trial statement must be read in the light most favorable to him. The question the court resolves on this motion is not one involving the credibility of witnesses or the strength of evidence, in which cases latitude is properly allowed for the variable views of the jury. The question is of law, of the correct, not the most favorable, interpretation of a document prepared by counsel in the course of litigation and approved by the court. But, however that may be, the words of the statement, in no matter how charitable a light they are viewed, do not convey the information that negligence was alleged on the basis of the fact that the defendant was driving on the wrong side of the road.
The court cites only one case in support of its position. Meadow Gold Products Co. v. Wright, 1960, 108 U.S.App.D.C. 33, 278 F.2d 867. In that case the issue was whether the trial judge erred in instructing on the doctrine of last clear chance when the issue did not appear in the pleadings or pre-trial order. On appeal the case was affirmed on the ground that counsel for defendant deliberately elected not to ask for a mistrial, continuance or reopening, or make a formal objection. But it appears clear from the language of the case that if the defendant had objected, it would have been error to give the instruction.
The cases support the view that where there has been a pre-trial order the issues are limited to the acts of negligence or the damages set out in that order unless it is amended. For example, in Walker v. West Coast Fast Freight, Inc., 9 Cir., 1956, 233 F.2d 939, a personal injury case, the damages from an accident were stated in the pre-trial order to be
“numerous bruises and contusions to the plaintiff’s body, severe brain concussion and brain damage, severe physical and mental shock and physical and mental pain and suffering, a severe tearing, twisting and wrenching of the tendons, muscles, ligaments, bones, nerves and soft tissue of her neck, back, pelvic area, right hip and leg, injuries to her upper chest, and aggravation of the pre-existing arrested tuberculosis, from all of which plaintiff was rendered sick, sore, nervous and distressed, that plaintiff has permanent injuries to her head, neck, back, right hip and leg, and the internal *203organs of her chest, * * *.” 233 F.2d at page 941.
The plaintiff wanted to show damages from pain and suffering in child birth and necessary shortening of the gestation period. Such variation from the order was refused as there had been no amendment. The court said:
“If appellees’ counsel had had the phrase from the pre-trial order * * * before him when he learned of her pregnancy, he might well have concluded that it was more probable than not that appellant might have some trouble in child birth and claim damages for her disability. However, this would have placed upon him the burden of preparing for a contention which might never arise and which would not be hard to overlook. It seems inconsistent with the purpose of clarification and simplification of issues to place upon a party the burden of connecting subsequently discovered facts with allegations buried in the pre-trial order * * 233 F.2d at page 942.
Again, in Fowler v. Crown-Zellerbach Corp., 9 Cir., 1947, 163 F.2d 773, 774, in a suit for damages for injury to property from a nuisance, the pre-trial order stated the alleged damage to be property depreciation and loss of income from operating the property. At the trial plaintiffs also claimed damages “for discomfort and annoyance or injury to health of themselves.” The latter issue was held to be foreclosed because not included in the pre-trial order.
In the Second Circuit a case similar to ours was disposed of per curiam:
“The plaintiff argues that this should have been done because liability for unseaworthiness had been asserted in the complaint and the pre-trial order had stated that none of the issues raised by the pleadings were abandoned. But the pre-trial order enumerated the only issues to be dealt with at the trial, and these were limited to questions raised by the allegations of negligence. If the plaintiff wished to present other issues at the trial he should have asked for an amendment of the pretrial order, which he failed to do. We find no error in the conduct of the trial. The verdict for the defendant was, therefore, properly allowed to stand.” 4
Perfect procedure is not the primary end of the judicial function, but to work toward that objective is desirable. The pre-trial order has contributed toward the simplification and promptness of judgment. It favors neither plaintiff nor defendant. It is in essence a stipulation of the parties as to facts and issues that helps litigants to understand remaining issues and prepare their contentions, subject always to the right to amend or amplify their order in the interest of justice. The pre-trial order is a part of the litigation process. In this case, appellant for reasons unknown to this court omitted the issue later relied on from his items of negligence alleged, then made no effort to amend. I think the trial judge correctly directed a verdict for defendant.

. See Report of the Advisory Committee on Rules for Civil Procedure, April, 1937, p. 45; Final Report, November, 1937, p. 14; Report of Proposed Amendments of October, 1955, p. 25, concerning Rule 16 dealt with nothing pertinent to this case.

. This has been recognized in this court. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Flynn, 1948, 83 App.D.C. 381, 171 F.2d 982.

. See, generally, 3 Moore’s Federal Practice, chap. 16.

. Fernandez v. United Fruit Co., 1952, 200 F.2d 414, 415; see McCarthy v. Lerner Stores Corp., D.C.D.C.1949, 9 F.R.D. 31; Washington v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., D.C.S.D.Fla.1956, 19 F.R.D. 370.