E. Marques

During a civil jury trial, the defendants sought to read portions of the plaintiff’s examination for discovery into evidence pursuant to Rule 31.11(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The plaintiff objected, arguing that the rule in Browne v. Dunn required the defendants to first put the evidence to the plaintiff during cross‑examination at trial.

The court held that Rule 31.11 permits a party to read discovery evidence into the record as admissions provided it is not used for impeachment purposes.

Balancing fairness considerations and the trial context, including the presence of a jury, the court allowed the defendants to read in the proposed excerpts.

The court also indicated that the plaintiff could seek leave to provide reply evidence if the read‑ins raised issues that required a response.

During a defamation trial, the plaintiff brought a motion to read into the record an affidavit sworn by a deceased witness.

The defendants opposed the motion, arguing the affidavit was inadmissible hearsay.

The court applied the principled exception to the hearsay rule, finding that the affidavit met the requirement of threshold reliability.

The motion was granted, and the affidavit was admitted with a mid-trial instruction to the jury regarding its weight.

The applicant and respondent submitted proposals for the appointment of an interim receiver/manager of the respondent corporation pending a shareholder meeting.

The court approved the powers set out in the applicant's proposed order.

While both proposed firms were qualified, the court appointed Duff + Phelps over Deloitte & Touche to avoid any appearance of a lack of independence, given prior contact between a director of the respondent and a representative of Deloitte.