Hartford Fire Ins. v. Sambrano (In Re Sambrano)

440 B.R. 702, 2010 WL 5018153
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 29, 2010
Docket19-60141
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 440 B.R. 702 (Hartford Fire Ins. v. Sambrano (In Re Sambrano)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartford Fire Ins. v. Sambrano (In Re Sambrano), 440 B.R. 702, 2010 WL 5018153 (Tex. 2010).

Opinion

Memorandum Decision and Order on Motion to Exclude Witnesses and Evidence

LEIF M. CLARK, Bankruptcy Judge.

Came on for consideration the foregoing matter. Defendant moves to exclude certain witnesses and evidence for failure to make appropriate disclosures under Rule 26. Plaintiff counters that it either made adequate disclosures, or that the failures were harmless, or that excluding evidence would be highly prejudicial.

For the reasons stated herein, the court grants the motion in part and denies the motion in part.

Background

Hartford Fire Insurance Company (the “Plaintiff’ or “Hartford”) initiated this adversary proceeding against Steven M. Sambrano (the “Debtor” or “Defendant”) on November 16, 2009. The complaint involves an objection to discharge under section 727 as well as a determination of dischargeability pursuant to section 523, based on the Debtor’s conduct in connec *705 tion with Hartford’s issuance of various payment and performance bonds to the Debtor’s construction company (“Sam-Corp”). Hartford alleges, generally, that the Debtor “as President and CEO of SamCorp, used bonded contract funds for purposes unrelated to the bonded contracts, and has otherwise transferred, removed, destroyed, mutilated, or concealed said funds with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the Surety [Hartford]. As a result, the Surety was caused to pay substantial amounts to certain subcontractors and suppliers on the Projects which but for the Debtor’s defalcation and improper use of said trust funds would not have been necessary or required.” (Compl., p. 4.)

On January 6, 2010 Hartford submitted its Rule 26 initial disclosures to Defendant. Hartford never amended or supplemented these initial disclosures. Hartford’s initial disclosures did not include the disclosure of any experts, nor did it include the disclosure of three witnesses (Jason Rae, David Taylor and Stacey Moynihan) Hartford now intends to call at trial. Hartford’s initial disclosures listed other individuals by name, and also generically listed “employees and agents of Hartford” as potential witnesses. Hartford’s initial disclosures also failed to include a computation of each category of damages claimed by Hartford; rather, Hartford simply listed its damages as “damages related to completion costs associated with the Sam-Corp projects, bond claims, litigation that ensued because of SamCorp’s default and attorneys’ fees and expenses.”

On October 6, 2010, Hartford sent Defendant’s counsel an e-mail with an attached witness and exhibit list, in anticipation of filing a joint pre-trial order. The witness list included Jason Rae and David Taylor, who were not specifically disclosed in Hartford’s initial disclosures.

Defendant now contends that Hartford’s newly disclosed witnesses should not be permitted to testify and that Hartford should not be permitted to introduce evidence of damages at trial. Defendant also contends that the exhibits listed on Hartford’s Proposed Pre-Trial Order do not fall within the definition of the documents disclosed in Hartford’s initial disclosures. The definition in the initial disclosures of those documents Hartford intended to use in support of its claims stated the following: “The historical case files relative to the projects SamCorp was working on at the time of the default in question. Such files are currently in the possession of the Surety.”

Hartford responds to Defendant’s motion by alleging the following: 1) two of the three witnesses at issue (Jason Rae and David Taylor) were disclosed to Defendant in an October 6 e-mail, and, in any event, they are both professionals retained by Hartford and thus are “agents” of Hartford as listed in the initial disclosures; 2) the third disputed witness (Stacey Moy-nihan) is an employee of Hartford and thus was also disclosed in Hartford’s initial disclosures; 3) regarding the damages calculations, Hartford alleges that its initial disclosures adequately describe the categories constituting Defendant’s debt to Hartford, and furthermore, that the underlying documents have been available to Defendant ever since Hartford filed its proof of claim on April 21, 2009; 4) regarding the contested exhibits disclosed in Hartford’s October 6, 2010 e-mail, Hartford alleges that they either did not exist or were not in Hartford’s possession at the time of the initial disclosures; and in any event, Hartford supplemented its exhibit list almost one month before the docket call. Finally, Hartford maintains that totally excluding its witnesses and exhibits is not the appropriate sanction in this case as *706 it would effectively prevent a trial on the merits.

Legal Authority

A. Witnesses

The Defendant seeks to exclude the testimony of Jason Rae (a forensic accountant retained by Hartford), David Taylor (a consultant retained by Hartford) and Stacey Moynihan (a Hartford employee) based on Hartford’s failure to timely disclose these witnesses under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 26(a) provides that a party’s initial disclosures must include a list of persons “likely to have discoverable information ... that the disclosing party may use to support its claims or defenses.” Fed. R.Crv.P. 26(a)(1)(A)®. The contested witnesses were not listed by name in Hartford’s initial disclosures; the initial disclosures merely listed “employees and agents of Hartford” as persons likely to have discoverable information relevant to the case. The plain language of the rule requires the disclosing party to list the names of these individuals. Furthermore, Hartford’s initial disclosures did not identify the subject matter of any information held by the disclosed individuals. Thus, Hartford’s initial disclosures did not comply with the requirements of Rule 26(a). See Erickson v. Ford Motor Co., 2007 WL 5527512, at *6-7, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97614, at *19 (D.Mont. Nov. 14, 2007) (finding that a party’s initial disclosures did not comply with Rule 26(a)(1)(A) where the disclosures did not list the names of individuals and did not identify the subjects of the discoverable information).

Finally, Hartford had a duty to supplement its initial disclosures “in a timely manner if the party learn[ed] that in some material respect the disclosure or response [was] incomplete or incorrect, and if the additional or corrective information ha[d] not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing[.]” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(e). Discovery closed in this case on August 31, 2010. Hartford did not provide any supplemental disclosures prior to the close of discovery. Hartford sent its witness list to Defendant’s counsel on October 6, 2010, but that list included individuals not named in Hartford’s initial disclosures (specifically, the list included Jason Rae and David Taylor as witnesses).

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Bluebook (online)
440 B.R. 702, 2010 WL 5018153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartford-fire-ins-v-sambrano-in-re-sambrano-txwb-2010.