166 So. 671 | La. | 1936
Mrs. George R. McQueen brought suit for damages for personal injuries which she suffered while a guest of the Roosevelt Hotel, in New Orleans, against the New Orleans-Roosevelt Corporation, operator of the hotel, and the Ætna Life Insurance Company, its insurer.
After the service of citations and copies of the petition, but before joining issue by filing their answers, the defendants obtained an order from the trial judge directing plaintiff to appear in court on a day fixed, "in order that she may be examined by counsel for defendants, as under cross-examination, in accordance with the provisions of Act
Defendants' proceeding is based on Act No.
Act No.
Nor are there any codal articles or other statutes which may be read in connection with Act No.
The cases of Interstate Rice Milling Company, Inc., v. Hibernia Bank Trust Co.,
The decision in the Soule Case, predicated on the necessity of procuring evidence beyond the jurisdiction of the trial court, as reflected in the pertinent statutes, constitutes an exception to the general rule of orderly procedure prescribed for the trial of cases under articles 359, 476, and 477 of the Code of Practice. In this case, the defendants, departing from the general rule, are assuming the right before issue joined to orally cross-examine the plaintiff, who, unlike the plaintiffs in the Soule Case, is a resident of the parish where the suit is pending, and not expected to be absent from the parish when the case is tried.
We find no warrant for extending the rule of the Soule Case to this case. When evidence of nonresident litigants is taken orally or by depositions, whether before or after issue joined, to be available, it must be formally offered on the trial of the case, when it may be objected to under the issues as defined by the pleadings. But to permit litigants to examine their resident opponents in open court, before the issue is defined, would be to permit the taking of evidence in its final form without advising the trial judge of the issues in the case and placing him in a position to rule on its relevancy and admissibility. *556
The procedure invoked by defendants, if sanctioned by this court, would open the door to the admission of much irrelevant evidence and lead to unwarranted delays and endless confusion in the trial of cases.
We find no error in the ruling of the trial judge.
For the reasons assigned, the rule nisi herein is discharged and relators' application for writs of prohibition and mandamus is denied.