California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Laosd Asbestos Cases Dorothy Evans v. Am. Optical Corp., B265222 (Cal. App. 2016):
Plaintiffs cite no authority stating that a document used to refresh a witness's recollection must be disclosed in discovery or included in a trial exhibit list. To the contrary, Evidence Code section 771, discussed above, anticipates that a document used to refresh a witness's recollection will be produced at the hearing in which the witness is testifying. (Evid. Code, 771, subd. (a).) In addition, documents used to refresh a witness's recollection need not be admissible, and indeed are inadmissible under Evidence Code section 771, subdivision (b), except when proffered by the adverse party. (See, e.g., People v. Lee, supra, 219 Cal.App.3d at p. 840 ["'The writing is used by the witness solely to assist him in giving his oral testimony. It has no independent evidentiary value for the party calling him, and is not admissible in evidence at his instance.' [Citation.]"].) Plaintiffs offer no explanation as to why such a document should have been listed as a party's trial exhibit.
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