Hypothetical regarding final pre-trial conference and order

You represent the party your section of the classroom was assigned to represent, unless you represented someone else in the depositions or the summary-judgment argument.

  1. Suppose summary judgment has been denied. Discovery is closed under the originally court-approved discovery plan. You want to take additional discovery. Can you? Why or why not? Is the judge authorized to approve further discovery? By what authority?
  2. If permitted, what additional discovery would you take and through what means? Be specific.
  3. Assume you have completed all the discovery you want. What documents, information and people will you bring to the final pre-trial conference?
  4. Suppose the final pretrial conference has been held and a pretrial order has issued. You get a phone call from a person with potentially valuable testimony for your client. You did not know the identity or whereabouts of this person earlier. Can you call him or her as a witness? Under what circumstances?
  5. Suppose you are in the middle of the trial. The plaintiff has rested. One of the defendants calls a witness not on the witness list. Is this permissible? Under what circumstances?