Can a plaintiff call rebuttal evidence at trial?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique v. British Columbia (Education), 2015 BCSC 1555 (CanLII):
Thus, the circumstances where rebuttal evidence is allowed are limited. The plaintiff may call evidence in rebuttal where the defence has raised some new matter or defence which the plaintiff had no opportunity to deal with, and which the plaintiff could not have reasonably anticipated. It is permitted only when it is necessary to ensure that each party will have had an equal opportunity to hear and respond to one another: (Krause at 474). In Sterritt v. McLeod, 2000 BCCA 318, Madam Justice Southin explained that rebuttal evidence may be: . . . of two sorts: One is evidence going to an issue the burden of proof of which lies upon the defendant. The other is simply evidence responsive to some point made in the oral evidence of the witnesses called by the defendant.” (at para. 28)
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