JOSEPH N. LaPLANTE, District Judge.
Before the court are the parties' respective motions
Each side has filed motions in limine seeking to exclude evidence from trial. The court preliminarily addressed these motions at the final pre-trial conference held on December 30, 2015.
Posteraro based her disability-related claims on diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"), anxiety and depression. Citizens seeks to exclude expert testimony regarding PTSD and her treatment for anxiety and depression. The ostensible bases for the motion is Posteraro's failure to properly disclose experts on those matters.
The court first observes that by granting summary judgment on Posteraro's substantive ADA claim, the court has rendered much of the testimony on the issue of her disabilities irrelevant. Fed. R. Evid. 401. While such testimony might be relevant to the limited issue of whether Citizens' alleged retaliation caused or exacerbated any of Posteraro's medical conditions, Posteraro has made no disclosure of any non-retained experts on this subject, as is required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(A), (c) and (D). As the court noted in
Posteraro originally sought lost wages based on her claims of wrongful termination and constructive discharge. However, the court granted summary judgment as to those claims, rendering evidence regarding lost wages or benefits irrelevant. Fed. R. Evid. 401, 402. Moreover, Posteraro has provided no authority for the proposition (and has not seriously or articulately argued) that she is entitled to recover lost wages for the periods of her leave that she requested as an accommodation under the ADA. Accordingly, Citizens'motion to exclude evidence of lost wages or benefits (doc. no. 44) is
Citizens notes that in January 2014, during the course of discovery, it learned that Posteraro had been involuntarily terminated by two previous employers, facts which she did not disclose in her Citizens employment application. Citizens claims that had it still employed Posteraro, it would have terminated her upon learning this information. Therefore, any accumulation of damages should end at that date. The court need not specifically reach the issue, however, as the grant of summary judgment in Citizens' favor on Posteraro's wrongful termination and constructive discharge claims renders any lost wage evidence irrelevant. Fed. R. Evid. 401, 402. Accordingly, Citizens' motion to exclude evidence of damages after January 20, 2014 (doc. no. 45), is
Citizens argues that evidence of branch manager Hatzidakis's poor performance or of disciplinary action it took against him for performance-related issues is irrelevant. The court disagrees. The only claim remaining in this case is for retaliation. As the court observed in its summary judgment order, there was evidence from which a jury could find that Hatzidakis retaliated against Posteraro because her protected activity — harassment complaints — "[got] him in trouble" with his superiors. 2015 DNH 237, 29. Accordingly, to the extent that evidence in Hatzidakis's personnel file is relevant to Posteraro's retaliation claim — perhaps as corroboration of her claims of retaliatory conduct or to establish a motive to retaliate — Citizens' motion to exclude evidence derived from Christos Hatzidakis's personnel file (doc. no. 46) is
In her objection to Citizens' motion for summary judgment, Posteraro made reference to alleged discrimination against Todisco, a former Citizens employee, as well as a discrimination case filed by Todisco against Citizens, which now seeks to exclude such evidence from trial. To the extent Posteraro intended to proffer this evidence to support a hostile environment claim, she may not do so, as the court granted summary judgment as this claim, rendering the evidence irrelevant for that purpose. Fed. R. Evid. 401, 402. While Todisco's treatment conceivably might be admissible as a "crime, wrong, or other act" under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(2), Posteraro has made no such argument. Therefore, Citizens' motion to exclude evidence regarding Genisa Todisco (doc. no. 47) is
Posteraro seeks to exclude evidence of her involvement in litigation against two other employers: one that preceded Citizens and one that followed. Citizens argues that evidence from those actions might help demonstrate that the complained-of conduct at Citizens was not unwelcome or that she was not actually intimidated by Hatzidakis's alleged conduct. Given the grant of summary judgment in Citizens' favor on Posteraro's harassment claims, such evidence is not relevant. Fed. R. Evid. 401, 402. Moreover, whatever probative value can be assigned to the mere fact that Posteraro has been in legal skirmishes with other employers, such value is outweighed by the potential prejudice of her being seen as unreasonably or unjustifiably litigious. Fed. R. Evid. 403. Therefore, Posteraro's motion to exclude evidence of other litigation (doc. no. 49) is
As set forth herein, and subject to the caveats noted, Citizens' motion to exclude expert testimony