How should a court handle a party's failure to disclose a witness or exhibit during discovery if they appear at trial?

• A. The court may permit limited impeachment, exclude the witness or exhibit, or impose sanctions based on the failure to comply with discovery orders.
• B. The court must dismiss the case.
• C. The witness is always allowed to testify.
• D. Exhibits are automatically admitted.

Answer: (A)

When a party fails to disclose a witness or exhibit in discovery, the court has a range of remedies to address the problem at trial. The guiding goal is to prevent unfair surprise and preserve a fair trial. The judge may permit limited impeachment to attack the credibility of the party that withheld information, or they may exclude the undisclosed witness or exhibit entirely if admitting it would be unfair to the other side. The court can also impose sanctions, such as fines or other consequences, for failing to follow discovery orders. The exact remedy depends on how the nondisclosure affected the proceedings and how important the evidence is to the case.

This approach is why the other possibilities aren’t correct. Dismissal of the case is not automatic for a discovery violation, and a witness is not automatically allowed to testify just because they appeared. Exhibits are not automatically admitted simply because they were not disclosed earlier; the court weighs prejudice and relevance before deciding.