Rule 611(c) permits leading questions when a party calls an adverse party, a witness identified with an adverse party, or a witness declared hostile. The examination proceeds as cross-examination in form.
Hostility may be established during examination.
Alternative Names:
Adverse Party Examination, Hostile Witness Examination
Why it Matters?
Calling an opposing party or its employee in your own case-in-chief, with leading permitted, is an underused approach that lets a defendant establish facts through the plaintiff's own witnesses before the plaintiff has framed them. The witness identified with an adverse party category is broader than employees and reaches close associates and former employees in some applications. Establishing hostility mid-examination requires demonstrating actual evasiveness rather than mere disagreement.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Who qualifies as adverse?
What establishes hostility mid-examination?
