The Tennessee Supreme Court has approved a modification to Tenn. R. Civ. Pro. 43 (Evidence at Trial) that sets forth the circumstances for “presentation of testimony in open court by contemporaneous audiovisual transmission from a different location using simultaneous audiovisual transmission equipment.”
The proposed rule change gives the trial court the discretion to permit a witness to testify via remote video transmission. It includes a list a 23 considerations to be used by the trial court in determining whether to permit the use of a remote video appearance.
Ordinarily, a motion to permit such testimony must be filed no less than 60 days before trial and ruled upon no later than 3o days before trial.
The standard for allowing the remote testimony of an “ordinary” witness is “good cause.” “Extraordinary circumstances” must be present for the testimony of party and expert witnesses to be presented by audiovisual transmission. (Note that this standard does not apply to the use of pre-recorded deposition testimony of expert witnesses who are not subject to subpoena to trial.)
The rule increases the expense of such testimony by requiring that a camera be placed in the courtroom and the view of the courtroom be transmitted to the testifying witness.
The costs of presenting this type of testimony must be borne by the party offering the witness.
Oddly, the rule does not include any comments from the Rules Commission.
The rule change now goes to the General Assembly for review. If history is any guide, the proposed rule change will be adopted and will be effective on July 1, 2024.