In Rural Mutual Insurance Co. v. Kuhn North American, Inc. (2019AP001907), the Court affirmed a decision of summary judgement against Rural after they had failed to meet the deadline for disclosing lay witnesses.

Facts

An accident occurred with Rural’s insured operating a machine manufactured by Kuhn. Rural paid the claim and sued Kuhn. Deadlines were set for disclosure, discovery, etc. After repeated failures to meet the deadline for disclosing of lay witnesses by Rural, Kuhn moved for summary judgement, arguing that without lay witnesses, Rural had no case. The circuit court agreed, and passed summary judgement, as well as denied a motion from Rural for reconsideration.

Decision

On appeal, Rural made two main arguments. The first is that they complied with the court’s scheduling order by providing a claim file to Kuhn prior to the lay witness disclosure deadline. The second is that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgement even if Rural failed to comply with the scheduling order. The court found that Rural had failed to comply with the scheduling order, as a file claim document that includes potential witnesses does not substitute for a proper lay witness disclosure. Further, the Court disagree with Rural that they could prove a tort claim entirely on expert testimony, and affirmed the circuit court’s summary judgement.