Nursing students at Our Lady of the Lake Nurse Anesthesia Program filed suit against their school after they were allegedly targeted for termination from the program through harassment, bullying, stalking and intimidation. During discovery, the plaintiffs successfully moved to compel the deposition of the program’s director. In advance of the director’s deposition, the school sought to depose a student who possessed audio tapes of conversations between himself and the director. During a court conference, the trial judge ordered that the student’s testimony and audio tapes be produced prior to the director’s deposition.

Plaintiffs thereafter sought reconsideration and supervisory review without success. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed the trial court, holding that the audio tapes were made for impeachment purposes rather than as direct evidence; and thus, their production should be delayed until after the director was deposed in order to preserve their impeachment value.

O’Dwyer v. Our Lady of the Lake Nurse Anesthesia Program

Trevor M. Cutaiar
tcutaiar@mblb.com