Titus County Hospital District/
Titus County Memorial Hospital, Petitioner
James Lucas and Marilyn Lucas, Respondents
The court of appeals held that petitioner's failure to supplement its discovery responses under
Rule 166b(6) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure should have resulted in the exclusion of
testimony at trial. 964 S.W.2d 144. Specifically, the court concluded that petitioner should have
supplemented: (1) its answer to an interrogatory inquiring of persons with knowledge of relevant
facts by naming additional persons whose identity had come to light, and (2) the deposition
testimony of two of its employees to correct misstatements they made. Rule 166b(6) requires
supplementation of a "response" to a "request for discovery". An interrogatory answer is a response
to a request for discovery, but testimony in a deposition is not. A general duty to supplement
deposition testimony (as opposed to a narrow duty for certain expert testimony, for example) would
impose too great a burden on litigants.
See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e) advisory committee's note (1970
amendment). We therefore disapprove the court of appeals' holding that deposition testimony must
be supplemented. However, we deny the petition for review.
Opinion delivered: October 15, 1998