Patterson v. County of Wayne

259 F.R.D. 286, 74 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 879, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77201, 2009 WL 2778075
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 28, 2009
DocketNo. 05-CV-71528
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 259 F.R.D. 286 (Patterson v. County of Wayne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson v. County of Wayne, 259 F.R.D. 286, 74 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 879, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77201, 2009 WL 2778075 (E.D. Mich. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS IN LIMINE

PAUL D. BORMAN, District Judge.

Now before the Court is defendants (“Defendants”) 1 Wayne County’s, Michael Winfrey’s, Aaron Medley’s, and Russell Herr’s Motions in Limine (Dkt.Nos.51, 55). Plaintiff Douglass Patterson (“Plaintiff’) filed two separate Responses on July 24, 2009. (Dkt.Nos.56-57). The Court held a hearing on these matters on August 13, 2009. Trial is currently scheduled for September 16, 2009.

For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendants’ Motions in Limine.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises from an alleged attack against Plaintiff by defendants Winfrey, Medley, and Herr (“Individual Defendants”) while Plaintiff was being transported through a tunnel between two areas of the Wayne County Jail located in Detroit, Michigan. Plaintiff claims that the entire incident arose after he attempted to bring certain legal documents with him to a hearing in federal court but was prevented from doing so because the legal documents were contained in a plastic bag, an alleged item of contraband, confiscated by the Defendants. Plaintiff suffers from polymyositis, a condition that he claims not only prevented him from carrying the legal documents without the plastic bag but also worsened the effect of Defendants’ alleged attack against him.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

District courts may rule on motions in limine under their authority to manage trials, even though such rulings are not explicitly authorized by the Federal Rules of Evidence. Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 41 n. 4, 105 S.Ct. 460, 83 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984). The Court exercises discretion when resolving questions of relevancy and admissibility of evidence at trial. See United States v. Seago, 930 F.2d 482, 494 (6th Cir.1991). Generally, evidentiary determinations depend largely upon the Court’s assessment of the relevance of proffered evidence as well as the extent that any prejudice is created by its admission.

B. Expert Medical Witness Testimony

Plaintiffs former counsel, Steven Budaj, listed Dr. Laran Lerner, Dr. Charles Spinazolla, Dr. James R. Fletcher, Dr. Gerald A. Shiener, and Dr. Paul Harvey as potential witnesses on his Witness List dated Febru[289]*289ary 1, 2006. (Dkt. No. 16). Defendants contend that this constituted an expert witness disclosure, which under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B) must be accompanied by a written report. Defendants further assert that their interrogatories specifically requested information about Plaintiffs five potential expert witnesses. Despite this request, however, Plaintiff only supplied Dr. Shiener’s curriculum vitae, which Defendants argue does not come close to meeting the requirements for written reports outlined in Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B).2 Defendants emphasize that over two and one-half years and three discovery extensions later, Plaintiff still has not provided these reports to Defendants. Defendants claim that if these experts are permitted to testify at trial, they will be prejudiced under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(C) because they were unable to have them medical experts, who were timely identified, prepare rebuttal reports.

As Plaintiff points out, however, Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B) only applies “if the witness is one retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or one whose duties as the party’s employee regularly involve giving expert testimony.” In Fielden v. CSX Transport, 482 F.3d 866 (6th Cir.2007), the Sixth Circuit determined that Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B) does not require the filing of an expert written report under that section where the expert witness is a physician who is a treating physician and was not retained to provide expert testimony. The court found that such a conclusion not only comported with the plain language of the rule but also to Advisory Committee Note to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26, which states that a “treating physician ... can be deposed or called to testify at trial without any requirement for a written report.” Id. at 869. The court stressed that in order to avoid having to file written reports, the testimony must not stray from the core of the physician’s treatment— i.e., “what the physician learned through actual treatment and from the plaintiffs records up to and including that treatment.” Id. at 869.

Thus, the Court concludes that under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2) (B) and Fielden, Plaintiff may call Dr. Laran Lerner, Dr. Charles Spinazolla, and Dr. James R. Fletcher as witnesses provided that Plaintiff can demonstrate at trial that the doctors’ opinions were rendered as treating physicians and not in anticipation of litigation. See Mohney v. USA Hockey, Inc., 138 Fed.Appx. 804, 811 (6th Cir.2005) (“[Wjhere the treating physician’s opinion is rendered in anticipation of litigation, courts have held that ‘causation is beyond the scope of the testimony a treating physician may provide without tendering an expert disclosure report.’ ”) (quoting Martin v. CSX Transp., Inc., 215 F.R.D. 554, 556-57 (S.D.Ind.2003)).

With respect to Dr. Shiener, Defendants submit a copy of an October 3, 2005 letter (“October 3, 2005 Letter”) from Dr. Shiener to Steven Budaj, Plaintiffs former counsel. (See Dkt. No. 57, Pl.’s Resp. Br. Ex. A). The letter clearly provides that Dr. Shiener’s opinion of Plaintiff was rendered solely in anticipation of litigation.

Thus, Plaintiff was required to provide Defendants with an expert witness report from Dr. Shiener that satisfies the six requirements under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(b). In response to Defendants’ Interrogatories and Document Requests Regarding Plaintiffs Expert Witnesses, Plaintiff provided only the curriculum vitae of Dr. Shiener during discovery. As to the October 3, 2005 Letter regarding Plaintiff, Defendants claim, and Plaintiff has not shown otherwise, that they did not receive the letter until July 24, 2009, less than two months before trial and more than two years after the close of discovery. But even reading the October 3, 2005 [290]*290Letter in conjunction with the curriculum vitae,

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259 F.R.D. 286, 74 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 879, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77201, 2009 WL 2778075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-county-of-wayne-mied-2009.