Henneberry v. City of Newark

Background

The court addressed a discovery dispute concerning the proposed testimony of Newark Police Captain Jolie Macias. During a pretrial conference, the defendants reported that Newark Police Captain Chomnan Loth had recently retired and that they intended to replace him with Macias as a witness concerning the Newark Police Department’s policies and procedures. The opinion states that the court had previously found Loth’s proposed testimony admissible, subject to limits described in a footnote.

Macias was not listed in the defendants’ witness disclosures. The plaintiff requested permission to depose Macias by Zoom or, alternatively, exclusion of Macias’s testimony. The defendants opposed the request, arguing that reopening discovery was not justified, that Macias had knowledge comparable to Loth’s, and that the plaintiff would not be prejudiced by the substitution.

Ruling

The court found good cause to allow the plaintiff to depose Macias. It agreed that proceeding to trial without an opportunity to depose a newly disclosed witness would prejudice the plaintiff. The court therefore granted the plaintiff’s request to depose Macias over Zoom and limited the deposition to three hours because the testimony’s scope was limited. The opinion does not separately state a ruling on the plaintiff’s alternative request to exclude Macias’s testimony.