Massie

Plaintiffs George and Tom Massie (Massie) appeal a judgment favoring defendant AAR Western Skyways, Inc. (AAR), on Massie’s complaint for negligence, products liability, fraud, breach of contract, and common counts after Massie declared inability to proceed to trial because of the superior court’s rulings on various pretrial motions. Massie contends the court erred in granting AAR’s motion to strike Massie’s designation of expert witnesses and denying Massie’s motion to submit a tardy designation of expert witnesses; excluding the testimony of asserted percipient witness Dick Davy; and granting AAR’s motion to strike Massie’s demand for jury trial and denying Massie’s motion for jury trial after waiver. Concluding the court should have relieved Massie from the jury waiver and permitted Davy to testify as a percipient witness, we reverse the judgment.

I

Superior Court Proceedings

In February 1989 Massie sued AAR for personal injuries and property damage allegedly incurred in April 1988 when Massie’s aircraft suffered an in-flight engine failure and made a forced emergency landing because of AAR’s errors in overhauling the aircraft’s engine in April 1985.

In June 1989…