Guerrero v. Meadows

646 F. App'x 597
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 29, 2016
Docket15-6114
StatusUnpublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 646 F. App'x 597 (Guerrero v. Meadows) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guerrero v. Meadows, 646 F. App'x 597 (10th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

BOBBY R. BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Miguel Guerrero was involved in an automobile accident with defendant Jacob Meadows while Mr. Meadows was driving a tractor-trailer for defendant Transport America. Mr. Guerrero and his wife, plaintiff Eva Guerrero, filed a complaint in state court against Mr. Meadows and Transport America, bringing claims of negligence and loss of consortium. Defendants removed the case to federal.court. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Guerrero, finding he was 45% negligent and defendants were 55% negligent. The jury awarded damages to Mr. Guerrero, but did not award damages to Mrs. Guerrero on her loss-of-consortium claim. Plaintiffs now appeal. We exercise jurisdiction over this diversity case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

I. Discussion

On appeal, plaintiffs challenge the district court’s decisions to: (1) exclude one of their proposed witnesses from testifying; (2) limit the examination time of a hostile witness; and (3) exclude some testimony from Mr. Guerrero’s treating physician. We review the district court’s evi-dentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. Ridenour v. Kaiser-Hill Co., 397 F.3d 925, 939 (10th Cir.2005). “An abuse of discretion occurs when the district court’s decision is arbitrary, capricious, or whimsical, or results in a manifestly unreasonable judgment.” United States v. Weidner, 437 F.3d 1023, 1042 (10th Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks omitted).

A. Excluding Jason Swihart’s testimony

Plaintiffs argue that the district court abused its discretion in excluding Mr. Swi-hart as a witness. We disagree.

The accident at issue in this case occurred on April 27, 2012. Plaintiffs originally filed their complaint in state court on April 21, 2014. Defendants removed the action to federal court shortly thereafter. On August 15, 2014, plaintiffs filed their initial disclosures and generally identified emergency responders at the scene of the accident as potential witnesses. Pursuant to the Scheduling Order entered on August 22, 2014, plaintiffs were to file their final witness lists by January 10, 2015. In their final witness list, plaintiffs again generally identified firemen/flagmen on the highway at the time of the accident as potential witnesses, but did not identify any specific individuals.

*599 Plaintiffs did not notify defendants that they intended to call Mr. Swihart as a witness until April 16, 2015, the day after the discovery deadline. At the time of the accident in this case, Mr. Swihart was a volunteer fireman for the Hydro Fire Department. He was one of the firemen that had responded to an earlier accident on the same stretch of highway. He was acting as a flagman to slow down the traffic as it approached the scene of the earlier accident and he allegedly observed the subsequent accident that occurred between Mr. Guerrero and Mr. Meadows.

Defendants filed a motion in limine to exclude Mr. Swihart from testifying. In their motion, defendants argued that plaintiffs had failed to comply with the district court’s Scheduling Order, which required that all witnesses be disclosed prior to the discovery deadline or they would be excluded from testifying at trial. Defendants further argued that plaintiffs had failed to comply with their duty under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to supplement their disclosures and identify Mr. Swihart as a witness prior to the close of discovery and therefore he should be excluded from testifying pursuant to Rule 37(c)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 1

Plaintiffs responded that .there was no surprise or prejudice to defendants by the late addition of Mr. Swihart because both parties had identified “firemen/flagmen” on their final witness lists and therefore “Defendants were aware that all of the firemen and flagmen at the scene were potential witnesses.” Aplt.App. at 150-51. Plaintiffs further asserted that they had just learned of Mr. Swihart’s identity a week before the discovery cut-off.

The district court granted defendants’ motion in limine and subsequently denied plaintiffs’ motion to reconsider that decision. In considering the district court’s decision on appeal, we concluded that the original order did not include a sufficient explanation for this court to meaningfully review the district court’s exercise of its discretion. We therefore directed a limited remand to the district court to supplement its order granting the motion in limine. The district court filed a supplemental order and we gave the parties the opportunity to file supplemental briefs addressing the district court’s supplemental order.

In our limited-remand order, we asked the district court to address the four factors identified in our decision in Woodworker's Supply, Inc. v. Principal Mutual Life Insurance Co., 170 F.3d 985, 993 (10th Cir.1999), which guide the district court’s discretion in this type of situation. Those factors are: “(1) the prejudice or surprise to the party against whom the testimony is offered; (2) the ability of the party to cure the prejudice; (3) the extent to which introducing such testimony would disrupt the trial; and (4) the moving party’s bad faith or willfulness.” Id.

In its supplemental order, the district court found that the first factor favored Mr. Swihart’s exclusion as a witness. The court explained that defendants were prej *600 udiced by the late disclosure of Mr. Swi-hart’s identity because it occurred after the close of discovery thereby precluding defendants from obtaining discovery related to Mr. Swihart. The court further explained that plaintiffs’ late disclosure of Mr. Swihart’s identity less than a month before trial further compounded the prejudice to defendants. The court noted plaintiffs’ argument that their identification of firemen/flagmen as potential witnesses cut against the prejudice to defendants. The court, however, disagreed with plaintiffs, explaining that defendants are not obligated to interview every potential witness, but instead “are entitled to. rely on Plaintiffs, who have the burden of proof, to set forth those witnesses they intend to call to satisfy their burden and then respond accordingly.” Supp. Order at 5.

The district court also found that the remaining factors favored Mr, Swihart’s exclusion. The court explained that:

Given the limited period of time between Plaintiffs’ late disclosure of Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
646 F. App'x 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guerrero-v-meadows-ca10-2016.