How have the courts treated the testimony of four witnesses in a civil case?

Defendant emphasizes his trial attorney's belief that the defense could not rely on the four witnesses because they "all would stand on their legal privileges not to testify." Although the testimony of a witness who actually took the stand and invoked the Fifth Amendment may be deemed "newly discovered" upon sudden willingness of the same witness to testify (People v. Shoals (1992) 8 Cal.App.4th 475, 487), here defendant failed to demonstrate that the witnesses were really unavailable during trial.

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