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.
- 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?
- If permitted, what additional discovery would you take and through what
means? Be specific.
- Assume you have completed all the discovery you want. What documents, information
and people will you bring to the final pre-trial conference?
- 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?
- 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?