Payne v. S.S. Nabob
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
302 F.2d 803 (3d Cir. 1962)
Payne (plaintiff) sued the S.S. Nabob (defendant) in admiralty for personal injuries, filing a pretrial memorandum relying solely on a defective winch theory; the court's resulting pretrial order — labeled a "pretrial report" — outlined this theory and listed Payne's intended witnesses without objection from Payne. At trial, Payne's attorney tried to argue the ship's loading had been handled improperly, contributing to the winch's unseaworthiness, and sought to call two additional witnesses not listed in the pretrial memorandum; the trial court sustained the defense's objection to both the new theory and the undisclosed witnesses, and Payne appealed, arguing a "report" was merely descriptive, not a binding order.
Whether a court's pretrial document, even if labeled a "report" rather than an "order," binds the parties as to what arguments they may raise and which non-rebuttal witnesses they may call at trial.