Mills v. Iowa Department of Transportation

462 N.W.2d 300, 1990 Iowa App. LEXIS 335, 1990 WL 170465
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedAugust 30, 1990
Docket89-1645
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 462 N.W.2d 300 (Mills v. Iowa Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mills v. Iowa Department of Transportation, 462 N.W.2d 300, 1990 Iowa App. LEXIS 335, 1990 WL 170465 (iowactapp 1990).

Opinion

HABHAB, Judge.

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) condemned a temporary easement from Judith Mills’ property for the purpose of securing borrow material. The compensation commission awarded Mills $16,000 in damages pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 472. Mills appealed the award to the district court and the district court entered judgment on a jury verdict in favor of Mills for $25,000. IDOT appeals.

IDOT contends that Mills’ expert, Robert Crane, should not have been permitted to testify. While Crane was timely designated, Mills failed to supplement her answers to interrogatories to reflect Crane’s opinion, as required by Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 125. Additionally, it claims that Crane’s opinion was based on an improper legal measure of damages.

IDOT further asserts that evidence concerning the composition of the compensation commission, including the names and *302 qualifications of its members, was improperly excluded. It bases this assertion on the 1984 amendment to Iowa Code section 472.21, which provides: “The appraisement of damages by the compensation commission is admissible, in the action [the district court action].”

I. The Expert Witness’s Testimony. The first issue to be addressed is whether the trial court erred by allowing the Plaintiffs expert, Robert Crane, to testify even though the Plaintiff failed to supplement her interrogatories to reflect the opinion of the expert. In this respect, the record reveals that plaintiff designated Mr. Crane as her expert appraisal witness on September 1, 1988. Plaintiff's answers to interrogatories were never updated to reflect Crane’s testimony. On July 18, 1989, less than two weeks before trial, defendant’s counsel received a copy of Crane’s report. Trial began on July 31, 1989. The IDOT argues with a great deal of persuasion that the court erred in allowing his testimony.

Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 125(c) states:

Duty to supplement discovery as to experts. If a party expects to call an expert witness when the identity or the subject of such expert witness’ testimony has not been previously disclosed in response to an appropriate inquiry directly addressed to these matters, such response must be supplemented to include [the name and address of the expert, the subject of the expert’s testimony, the expert’s qualifications, the mental impressions and opinions held by the expert, and the underlying facts ' which form the basis of the expert’s opinion] as soon as practicable, but in no event less than thirty days prior to the beginning of trial except on leave of court. If [the information is] not disclosed in compliance with this rule, the court in its discretion may exclude or limit the testimony of such expert, or make such orders in regard to the nondisclosure as are just.

(Emphasis added.) We will not disturb a district court’s decision under this rule unless the court abused its discretion. Hoekstra v. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 382 N.W.2d 100, 108 (Iowa 1986). An abuse of discretion is found only when the grounds for the decision are “clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable.” Id. at 108.

Like in Preferred Marketing Assoc. Co. v. Hawkeye National Life Ins. Co., 452 N.W.2d 389, 393 (Iowa 1990), “were we deciding the matter in the first instance we might well exclude expert testimony thrust on the defendant at so late a date. Noncompliance with discovery rules and discovery orders should not be tolerated. Often it is not tolerated.”

It is well settled that the mere designation of the name of the expert does not satisfy the requirements of the discovery rule. Rule 125(c) makes it clear that if a party expects to call an expert witness, in addition to naming the expert and giving his address, “the subject of the expert’s testimony, the expert’s qualifications, the mental impressions and opinions held by the expert, and the underlying facts which form the basis of the expert's opinion” must be revealed by way of a supplement to the original response, and that supplement must take place as soon as practicable but in no event less than thirty days prior to the beginning of trial except on leave of court.

The plaintiff’s failure to update answers to interrogatories places her in violation of the rule. But our task is to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in permitting the testimony. In this regard, we must apply the test of whether the trial court’s decision is so clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable so as to constitute an abuse.

The name of the expert was revealed in September of 1988. Correspondence took place between the attorneys on April 18, 1989, May 24, 1989, and June 14, 1989. Trial was scheduled for July 31, 1989. In the May correspondence, defense counsel made mention that he desired to take plaintiff’s expert’s deposition. Defense counsel, in his June 14 correspondence, confirmed that he was going to take the deposition of plaintiff on July 17 and that after he re *303 ceived the report of the expert (which was expected “next week”), he was to then discuss with plaintiffs counsel the taking of the expert’s deposition. The report was furnished almost two weeks prior to trial. The IDOT filed its motion to exclude on July 21, and the court overruled that motion on July 24.

The purpose of rule 125 is to avoid surprise to litigants and to allow the parties to formulate their positions on such evidence as is available. Lambert v. Sisters of Mercy Health Corp., 369 N.W.2d 417 (Iowa 1985). In this case, the name of the expert was designated months before trial. It is apparent from the correspondence between counsel that the defendant intended to take the deposition of the witness. We are unable to find that the IDOT was surprised because the witness was to be called. We find that the trial judge did not behave in an unreasonable manner in concluding that it was appropriate to admit the testimony of the plaintiffs expert. We affirm the trial court’s decision rejecting defendant’s request to disqualify plaintiff’s expert.

II. Expert’s Testimony as to Value. The second issue raised by the defendant is whether the trial court erred in allowing the expert to testify to, what the defendants contend, is an improper measure of damages. We conclude it did not.

The legal measure of damages applied in practically all partial taking cases is the difference between the fair market value of the property immediately before condemnation and the fair market value of what is left after the taking. Kukkuk v. City of Des Moines, 193 Iowa 444, 448, 187 N.W. 209, 211 (1922). In this case the expert, Mr. Crane, gave testimony on direct examination as to the before and after fair market value of the property.

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Related

Millis v. Hute
587 N.W.2d 625 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
462 N.W.2d 300, 1990 Iowa App. LEXIS 335, 1990 WL 170465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-iowa-department-of-transportation-iowactapp-1990.