Section 7.56 Impeaching Party’s Own Witness

• Library: Sources of Proof (2014 Ed.)

2. (§7.56) Impeaching Party’s Own Witness

In Rowe v. Farmers Insurance Co., 699 S.W.2d 423, 425 (Mo. banc 1985), the Supreme Court of Missouri abandoned the orthodox rule, which prohibits a party from impeaching the party’s own witness except under very limited circumstances, and it held that, in civil cases, “the time has come for us to recognize the right of any party to introduce a prior inconsistent statement to impeach any witness regardless of by whom the witness may have been subpoenaed or called.”...