Kirk Gonzales v. Joseph A. Dimattia, Louisiana Rock Transportation, LLC, Trucking Experts 3, LLC, and United Specialty Insurance Company

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

KIRK GONZALES NO. 2020 CW 1287

VERSUS PAGE 1 OF 2

JOSEPH A. DIMATTIA,
LOUISIANA ROCK

TRANSPORTATION, LLC,

TRUCKING EXPERTS # 3, LLC,
AND UNITED SPECIALTY APRIL 08, 2021
INSURANCE COMPANY

In Re: Joseph A. Dimattia, Louisiana Rock Transportation,
LLC, Trucking Experts # 3, LLC and United Specialty
Insurance Company, applying for supervisory writs,

19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton
Rouge, No. 664991.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, McCLENDON, WELCH, CHUTZ AND LANIER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. The trial court' s
November 6, 2020 judgment, which denied the Motion in Limine to
Exclude Testimony and Evidence, filed by defendants, Joseph A.
Dimattia (" Dimattia"), Louisiana Rock Transportation, LLC,
Trucking Experts # 3, LLC, and United Specialty Insurance
Company, is reversed in part. Evidence related to the number of
times Dimattia took the commercial driver' s license test, more

than two decades prior to the incident at issue, does not have a
tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of

consequence to the determination of the action more probable or

less probable, and it is not relevant and not admissible. See
La. Code Evid. art. 401 & 402. Accordingly, the trial court

abused its discretion in part in denying defendants' Motion in

Limine to Exclude Testimony and Evidence. The motion is granted
in part, and evidence related to the number of times Dimattia
took the commercial driver' s license test is excluded from the
trial of this matter. However, evidence related to Dimattia not
being subjected to an alcohol and drug test after the collision

is not excluded from the trial of this matter.

Additionally, the trial court' s November 6, 2020 judgment, which

granted the plaintiff' s Motion to Strike Defendants' Late -
Disclosed Safety Expert Witness is reversed. We find the trial
court abused its discretion by striking testimony of the
defendants' expert, Rodney Ellis, who was disclosed in violation
of the deadlines set forth in the Revised Case Management and

Scheduling Order. Even though plaintiff' s amended petition was
filed within the court- ordered deadline, it was subsequent to
the deadline for naming experts. Plaintiff has not established

he will suffer substantial injustice if Mr. Ellis is allowed to
testify, where he has had Mr. Ellis' s report since approximately
March 25, 2020 and trial herein was continued. Therefore,

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

NO. 2020 CW 1287
PAGE 2 OF 2

plaintiff' s Motion to Strike Defendants' Late - Disclosed Safety
Expert Witness is denied. In all other respects, the writ is
denied.

PMC
JEW

WRC
WIL

Guidry, J., dissents and would deny the writ. The criteria
set forth in Herlitz Construction Co., Inc. v. Hotel Investors
of New Iberia, Inc., 396 So. 2d 878 ( La. 1981) ( per curiam) are

not met.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

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4 DEPUTY C E K OF COURT
FOR THE COURT