U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1997

Jones v. Postmaster General

Jones v. Postmaster General
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Decided January 8, 1997

Jones v. Postmaster General

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT CONNIE D. JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE POSTMASTER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, No. 95-3191 Defendant-Appellee, and PAUL BOULEY; ROGER BURACKER, Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Newport News.

Raymond A. Jackson, District Judge. (CA-94-173-NN) Argued: December 5, 1996 Decided: January 8, 1997 Before WILKINS and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge. _________________________________________________________________ Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. _________________________________________________________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: Jeffrey M. Jordan, PENINSULA LEGAL AID CENTER, INC., Hampton, Virginia, for Appellant. Lori Joan Dym, Legal Pol- icy, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: R. Andrew German, Managing Counsel, Legal Policy, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Washington, D.C.; Helen F. Fahey, United States Attorney, George M. Kelley, III, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee. _________________________________________________________________ Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). _________________________________________________________________ OPINION PER CURIAM: Connie D. Jones brought this action against her former employer, the Postmaster General of the United States, and two individuals, alleging various acts of illegal employment discrimination and retalia- tion. Jones presently appeals from a judgment entered against her fol- lowing a trial of her claims; she asserts that the district court erred in refusing to permit her to introduce the testimony of two witnesses on the grounds that she had failed to timely name them in compliance with a district court order directing disclosure of all witnesses by a specified date prior to trial. We conclude, however, that because Jones failed to proffer the substance of the witnesses' proposed testi- mony, she may not prevail on appeal. See United States v. Clements, 73 F.3d 1330, 1336 (5th Cir. 1996) (holding alleged error in exclusion of testimony was not properly preserved because"`the substance of the evidence was [not] made known to the court by offer'" and was not "`apparent from the context within which questions were asked'") (quoting Fed. R. Evid. 103(a)(2)). In the absence of a proffer of their testimony, we are unable to conclude that Jones' substantial rights were impacted by the refusal of the district court to permit the testi- mony of the witnesses. Accordingly, we affirm.

AFFIRMED

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