A point in limine is a motion moved by one of the parties to litigation at the very beginning of proceedings aimed at usually pulling the rug from under the feet of the other party, so to speak.In limine motions are designed to facilitate the management of a case, generally, ...
A point in limine is a motion moved by one of the parties to litigation at the very beginning of proceedings aimed at usually pulling the rug from under the feet of the other party, so to speak.
In limine motions are designed to facilitate the management of a case, generally, by deciding difficult evidentiary issues in advance of a trial. The normal purpose of such motions is to preclude the presentation of evidence deemed inadmissible and prejudicial by the party moving the motion. Although trial courts may exercise their inherent powers to permit non-traditional uses of motions in limine, when used in such a fashion, these become substitutes for other motions thereby circumventing procedural protections provided by trial on the merits.
They risk blind-siding the other party, and, in some cases, they could infringe a party's right to a trial.
They are difficult applications to succeed upon as the trial judge, at that stage, will not yet have much context to rule on admissibility of evidence. Thus, in the words of JUSTICE CONLON of the United States District Court in Hawthorne Partners v AT & T Technologies Inc and ENSR Corporation, 831 F 831 Supp 1398 (1993);
“Unless evidence meets this high standard, evidentiary rulings should be deferred until trial so that questions of foundation, relevancy, and potential prejudice may be resolved in proper context.
Denial of a motion in limine does not necessarily mean that all evidence contemplated by the motion will be admitted at trial. Denial merely means that without the context of trial, the court is unable to determine whether the evidence in question should be excluded. The court will entertain objections on individual proffers as they arise at trial, even though the proffer falls within the scope of a denied motion in limine.”
The point raised by the defendant should or could have been the subject of an exception.
It is purely a procedural question whether the determination of such points as raised in limine in trial proceedings should be described as an exception or the hearing of argument on a point of law or a point in limine: see Rule 152 of the High Court Rules, 1971.
