R. M. R. v. Muscogee County School District
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
165 F.3d 812 (11th Cir. 1999)
R. M. R. (plaintiff) was molested as a student by a music teacher and sued Muscogee County School District (defendant), claiming it was vicariously liable for knowing or having reason to know the teacher was dangerous. On the third day of a jury trial, after R. M. R. had already rested his case and Muscogee's defense was nearly finished, a previously unknown witness, D. L. J., surfaced claiming the same teacher had molested him 50 times and that he had reported it to the school's principal. R. M. R. moved to call D. L. J. even though he wasn't on the pretrial witness list, but the district court denied the motion and the jury found for Muscogee.
Whether excluding the testimony of a witness not listed on the pretrial order is generally appropriate when admitting it would be extremely prejudicial to the opposing party and less prejudicial alternatives are available.