United States District Court, N.D. California
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STRIKE ALL
TESTIMONY RELATED TO GOVERNMENT'S EXHIBIT 450
THELTON E. HENDERSON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
On July
7, 2016, Defendant Pacific Gas and Electric Company
("PG&E") made an oral motion to strike all
testimony related to Government's Exhibit 450. After
carefully considering the parties' oral arguments, the
Court hereby DENIES the motion.
BACKGROUND
On July
7, 2016, the Government introduced Exhibit 450 - an email
chain launched by witness William Manegold regarding
"segments that were at or above 50% [Specified Minimum
Yield Strength (‘SMYS')] at [Maximum Operating
Pressure (‘MOP')], " and an attached
spreadsheet detailing this information. Gov't's Ex.
450 at 1. The Government then asked Mr. Manegold a series of
questions about the underlying spreadsheet.
At the
close of testimony on the same day, PG&E made the following
oral motion to strike all testimony related to Exhibit 450:
So I'd like to make a motion to strike all the testimony
that's related to this last spreadsheet in Exhibit 450.
It appeared that the thrust of the testimony . . . was that
they were listing pipes at percentages higher than SMYS and
there is nothing in the indictment that charges us with doing
anything greater than SMYS. Apparently, their theory is that
there were exceedances over MOP. So I think it's -
it's not something that we were prepared to defend
ourselves against. I think it's a constructive amendment
and so, therefore, I move to strike the testimony.
Trial Tr., Vol. 16 at 2422:21-2423:10.[1]
DISCUSSION
PG&E's
argument about constructive amendment is unpersuasive. The
Government took steps to tie the challenged SMYS testimony to
PG&E's MOP practices, which are directly at issue in this
case. For example, the following exchange occurred before the
admission of Exhibit 450:
Q: Is there a relationship between the percentage SMYS and
the maximum operating pressure for a segment?
A: Um, yes.
Q: If the percentage SMYS is too high, would PG&E need to
lower the maximum operating pressure?
A: Yes.
Trial Tr., Vol. 16 at ...