Plans, Inc. v. Sacramento City Unified School District

*249 MEMORANDUM **

The People for Legal and Non-Seetarian Schools (“PLANS”), a non-profit organization, appeals the district court’s judgment following a bench trial that PLANS failed to carry its evidentiary burden of demonstrating that Anthroposophy is a religion. Specifically, PLANS appeals the court’s exclusion from trial the testimony of three witnesses for failure to disclose during discovery.

The parties are familiar with the facts. We proceed to the law. The imposition of discovery sanctions is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Wong v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 410 F.8d 1052, 1060 (9th Cir.2005). A district court’s decision imposing sanctions without making factual findings regarding the sanction, however, is reviewed de novo. Fonseca v. Sysco Food Services of Arizona, Inc., 374 F.3d 840, 845-846 (9th Cir.2004) (citing Adriana Int'l. Corp. v. Thoeren, 913 F.2d 1406 , 1407 (9th Cir.1990)).

The district court erred in excluding the testimony of the witnesses in question. Because PLANS intended to call the witnesses as percipient witnesses, it did not need to comply with the court’s deadline for expert witness disclosure. Moreover, the record indicates that PLANS…