I am a pro se Plaintiff in an ADA suit against a local government. I want to call former co-workers as witnesses but they are afraid of testifying for fear of retaliation. The particular office I was in had a long record of grievances from employees because of unfair actions by the management of that office.
I want to give my former co-workers as much assurance as possible that upper management will not know they are testifying for my case, or at least that upper management will not know what they are testifying about. Pursuant to that objective, I am going to file a motion for Protective Order F.R.C.P. 26(c)(5). I am also planning to file an application for a preliminary injunction to prevent any witness from speaking to anyone else about my case except for the Defense attorney and myself.
Further, I do not trust the Defense attorney at all to keep silent on the matter (because during our correspondences, he told me some specific lies regarding case law and procedures, probably assuming I did not know any better as a pro se Plaintiff). He might inform upper management of who is testifying for me in the hopes that co-workers will be bullied into not testifying for me. Thus, I also want to file an interlocutary injunction to prevent him from telling anyone about who is testifying for me, or at least prevent him for discussing with anyone what each witness will be testifying about.
Questions:
1) What chance do I have of getting my requests granted?
2) Should I (and can I) get Declarations from my co-workers about their fear of testifying to include in my requests?
3) Should I (and can I) bring evidence of past unfair actions by the upper management of my former office to include in my requests (to prove that there is a good basis for the fears of my co-workers)?
4) What else can I do? Is there a way for me to have one person at a time testify during trial without anyone else present?
I hope someone can help me with some advice.
I want to give my former co-workers as much assurance as possible that upper management will not know they are testifying for my case, or at least that upper management will not know what they are testifying about. Pursuant to that objective, I am going to file a motion for Protective Order F.R.C.P. 26(c)(5). I am also planning to file an application for a preliminary injunction to prevent any witness from speaking to anyone else about my case except for the Defense attorney and myself.
Further, I do not trust the Defense attorney at all to keep silent on the matter (because during our correspondences, he told me some specific lies regarding case law and procedures, probably assuming I did not know any better as a pro se Plaintiff). He might inform upper management of who is testifying for me in the hopes that co-workers will be bullied into not testifying for me. Thus, I also want to file an interlocutary injunction to prevent him from telling anyone about who is testifying for me, or at least prevent him for discussing with anyone what each witness will be testifying about.
Questions:
1) What chance do I have of getting my requests granted?
2) Should I (and can I) get Declarations from my co-workers about their fear of testifying to include in my requests?
3) Should I (and can I) bring evidence of past unfair actions by the upper management of my former office to include in my requests (to prove that there is a good basis for the fears of my co-workers)?
4) What else can I do? Is there a way for me to have one person at a time testify during trial without anyone else present?
I hope someone can help me with some advice.
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