Minebea Co. v. Papst

231 F.R.D. 3, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14002, 2005 WL 1649144
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided July 14, 2005·No. No. CIV.A. 97-0590(PLF)·Published·Cited by 65 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Mine-bea’s Motion for Leave to Supplement the Expert Report of Mr. Thomas Gardner. The Court has examined Minebea’s motion, Papst’s opposition, and Minebea’s reply, as well as the Supplemental Report itself. For the reasons that follow, Minebea’s motion is granted in part and denied in part. This matter is also before the Court on Papst’s strike through of the testimony of Mr. Gardner and Papst’s objections to the trial exhibits Minebea proposes to introduce through Mr. Gardner. The Court’s conclusions regarding admissibility are contained herein.

A. Supplemental Report

Mr. Gardner’s original report, dated April 4, 2005, provides an analysis of the hard disk drive (“HDD”) marketplace in general, as well as conclusions as to what Minebea’s market share and production of HDD motors would have been in a “but-for” scenario, if Minebea’s rights under the Papst patents had been affirmed in 1993 or 1995. See April 4, 2005 Report of Thomas Gardner (“First Expert Report”). One week into trial, Minebea now seeks to admit in evidence a so-called “supplemental report,” which would provide additional information in four specific sections: (1) a “refined focus” on the metrics of the U.S. HDD marketplace; (2) a “compendium” of reasonable royalty rates along with a reasonable royalty rate figure per drive; (3) a rebuttal of Mr. Du-binsky’s alleged “miseharaeterizations” of Mr. Gardner’s “but-for scenario”; and, (4) a revised forecast of Minebea’s production capacities based on Mr. Malackowski’s supplemental report. Minebea’s Motion for Leave to Supplement the Expert Report of Thomas Gardner (“Supp.Mot.”) at 1-6. As discussed below, only two limited portions of Mr. Gardner’s supplemental report fall within the scope of a permitted supplementation of disclosures as contemplated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Rule 26(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure states that expert witnesses must provide the Court with a written report containing, among other things, “a complete statement of all opinions to be expressed and the bases and reasons therefore; [and] the data or other information considered by the witness in forming the opinions; [and] any exhibits to be used as a summary of or support for the opinions.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B). Rule 26(a)(2)(C) requires that such reports be disclosed at least 90 days before the trial date or as directed by the Court. The purpose of Rule 26(a)(2) is to prevent unfair surprise at trial and to permit the opposing party to prepare rebuttal re[6] ports, to depose the expert in advance of trial, and to prepare for depositions and cross-examination at trial. See Coles v. Perry, 217 F.R.D. 1, 4 (D.D.C.2003) (noting that “the very purpose of the rule is nullified” when an expert “supplements” his report by addressing a new matter after discovery has ended). The Rule also prevents experts from “lying in wait” to express new opinions at the last minute, thereby denying the opposing party the opportunity to depose the expert on the new information or closely examine the expert’s new testimony. See Keener v. United States, 181 F.R.D. 639, 641 (D.Mont.1998).

In light of the purposes of Rule 26(a), Rule 37(c)(1) provides for the exclusion at trial of any information not disclosed pursuant to Rule 26(a), unless the failure to disclose is harmless, or if there was substantial justification for such failure. Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(c)(1).1 Neither of the exceptions in Rule 37(e)(1) are present in this case. As explained below, the information contained in Mr. Gardner’s supplemental report could have been compiled and filed with this Court well before the start of trial. Mine-bea has articulated no substantial justification for waiting until one week after the start of trial to provide this report. Discovery in this action began years ago, and the time for disclosure of additional evidence has long since passed. Furthermore, the failure to disclose is not harmless, as Mine-bea alleges. Mr. Gardner’s supplemental report is, in several respects, a substantial “refinement” of the original report, containing new or different material and providing additional information to support specific elements of Minebea’s case. Papst has not had the opportunity to depose Mr. Gardner regarding his new report, to have its own witness prepare rebuttal reports, or adequately to prepare for cross-examination with respect to the new report. Rule 26(a)(2) specifically contemplates the exclusion of reports, such as this one, that are filed too late to provide the opposing party with an adequate opportunity to respond or prepare a response for trial.

Rule 26(e)(1) provides a limited exception to the deadlines provided in Rule 26(a)(2)(C), requiring that an expert witness supplement his report if he “learns that in some material respect the information disclosed is incomplete or incorrect and if the additional or corrective information has not been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(e)(1). Contrary to the suggestion of Minebea in its Motion for Leave to Supplement, Rule 26(e) does not permit parties to file supplemental reports whenever they believe such reports would be “desirable” or “necessary” to their case. Rather, the Rule permits supplemental reports only for the narrow purpose of correcting inaccuracies or adding information that was not available at the time of the initial report. Keener v. United States, 181 F.R.D. at 640; Coles v. Perry, 217 F.R.D. at 3 (“Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(e) does not grant a license to supplement a previously filed expert report because a party wants to, but instead imposes an obligation to supplement the report when a party discovers the information it has disclosed is incomplete or incorrect.”). Specifically, supplemental reports are permitted under Rule 26(e)(1) only in the following situations: (1) upon court order; (2) when the party learns that the earlier information is inaccurate or incomplete; or (3) when answers to discovery requests are inaccurate or incomplete. Keener v. United States, 181 F.R.D. at 640. Minebea’s liberal interpretation of Rule 26(e) would contradict the purpose of Rule 26(a)(2) and Rule 37(e)(1), which specifically prevent further disclosures of expert testimony as trial approaches.

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Minebea Co. v. Papst, 231 F.R.D. 3, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14002, 2005 WL 1649144 (D.D.C. 2005).

231 F.R.D. 3 (Minebea Co. v. Papst) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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