Duty to Inform Opposing Party of Eyewitnesses and Distinguish from General Witnesses
Mitchell’s Contracting Service, LLC v. Robert Guy Gleason, Sr. as administrator of the Estate of Lorena Gleason, deceased
Mitchell’s Contracting Service, LLC (“Mitchell”) appealed from the trial court’s denial of Mitchell’s renewed motion for a judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial in a wrongful-death action brought by Robert Guy Gleason, Sr., as the administrator of the estate of Lorena Gleason. On the day of the accident, Mitchell was engaged in transporting wood ash from a paper mill to a dump site southeast of the paper mill. This Court denied Mitchell’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law, finding there was testimony sufficient to allow a fair-minded person to conclude that Lorena was forced off the road by a white dump truck traveling in the opposite direction and that the only dump truck in the area in the relevant time frame fitting that description was one driven by a driver employed by Mitchell.
However, the Court found that the trial court exceeded its discretion in refusing Mitchell’s request for a continuance due to Gleason failing to disclose the only known eyewitness. Though Gleason’s counsel learned of the only eyewitness just two months before trial, he failed to inform Mitchell. Gleason’s general witness list identified the only known eyewitness as only a potential trial witness. Further, Gleason provided his eyewitness list to Mitchell only after Gleason had previously indicated that he was unaware of the existence of any eyewitnesses to the accident. The Court found Mitchell was prejudiced initially by Gleason’s failure to disclose the eyewitness and critically by the trial court’s refusal to continue the trial to allow Mitchell the opportunity to depose the eyewitness. Thus, the Court reversed and remanded for a new trial.
