Erica Dandry Constanza, et al. v. Sparta Insurance Company, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied Huntington Ingalls Incorporated’s motion in limine to exclude testimony from plaintiffs’ witnesses who were not offered for deposition before the discovery deadline. The court held that a witness need not be deposed before testifying at trial and that Avondale had not shown that exclusion was warranted.

Holdings

1. There is no requirement that a witness be deposed before being called to testify at trial.
2. Avondale failed to demonstrate that outright exclusion of the witnesses was warranted, so the motion in limine was denied.

Questions Presented

1. Whether witnesses who were not offered for deposition before the close of discovery must be excluded from testifying at trial.
2. Whether Avondale demonstrated that exclusion of the plaintiffs' witnesses was warranted under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Disposition

writ_denied