State Hwy Comm v. Redmon

In State Hwy Comm v. Redmon, 42 Mich. App. 642, 646; 202 N.W.2d 527 (1972), the plaintiff's expert suffered a heart attack in February 1970 and was rendered unable to testify. In March 1970, the plaintiff notified the defendant that there would be a substitute for the expert witness, with trial scheduled for May 11, 1970. At trial, after the jury was sworn and the first witness was examined, the defendant moved to exclude the substituted expert because his name was not listed on the plaintiff's pretrial summary statement. The Court noted that the defendant was aware of the first expert's disability for five months and knew of the substitution for fifty-six days. Redmon, 42 Mich. App. at 644-645. Despite this knowledge, the defendant failed to act until the time of trial. The Court stated that the defendant did not appear to act in good faith by raising the objection at trial and failed to "raise timely objection" to the proposed new expert witness. Id. at 645. Therefore, the trial court's refusal to strike the substituted witness was affirmed on appeal. Id. at 646.