Opinion
No. 00 C 6181.
June 6, 2008
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Defendant wants to use Pete Nativo, vice-president of maintenance. as a witness. Plaintiffs object and move to bar his use. That motion is denied, but defendant shall make him available for a deposition, and we leave open, for now, whether or not defendant shall bear any or all of the expense of any pick-up deposition necessitated by Nativo now being a witness.
Nativo surfaced as possibly someone with knowledge sometime ago, but he was not identified as a possible witness until shortly before discovery closed. It is unclear why he was not so identified until recently — defendant suggests that it was due to the deposition testimony of others, but it knew long before that he had been the maintenance vice-president and that maintaince operations were highly relevant to its position. Plaintiffs were aware of this witness for a considerable period as well, but, in the absence of defendants designating him as someone with knowledge, they can hardly be faulted for not taking his deposition before. And, finally, we do not know what he did or knew, and will not know what he claims he did not do or know until or unless he is deposed — or, for that matter, what defendant believed he knew that other witnesses did not know
He was identified as a possible witness before discovery closed, although barely. There is time to pursue the matter, and it may be that redeposing anyone else will be unnecessary. Others who presumably had the same information have been deposed. Defendant should have named him earlier, but we do not see any particular prejudice in permitting him to testify, nor are we persuaded that the late naming was due to some nefarious scheme by the defendant.