White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona v. United States

4 Cl. Ct. 575, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1493
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 7, 1984
DocketNo. 22-H
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 4 Cl. Ct. 575 (White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona v. United States, 4 Cl. Ct. 575, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1493 (cc 1984).

Opinion

ORDER

NETTESHEIM, Judge.

On January 12, 1984, plaintiff White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona (“plaintiff”) filed its “Motion To Vacate on Jurisdictional Grounds Paragraphs 4 and 5 of November 7, 1983 Order.” That order provided in pertinent part:

4. Pursuant to RUSCC 26(b)(3)(A) and Fed.R.Evid. 611(a), the court has determined that because the testimony of expert witnesses in this case derives from history, because the exhibits to that testimony will likely be the products of research, and because the issues addressed by the experts are complex, the expert testimony shall be presented by way of written reports and oral testimony. The parties shall direct their experts to reduce their testimony to writing and to accompany their reports with exhibits identified as to each expert (i.e., witness A shall have exhibits marked A 1-1,000 and witness B, B 1-1,000, with all unused numbers reserved).
5. On January 30, 1984, plaintiff shall serve on defendant its expert witness reports and exhibits relating to water resource and grazing land (range) mismanagement; defendant shall serve its expert witness reports and exhibits relating to these claims on plaintiff on June 1, 1983 [sic]. On March .30, 1984, plaintiff shall serve on defendant its expert witness reports and exhibits relating to timber mismanagement claims; defendant shall serve its expert witness reports and exhibits relating to these claims on plaintiff on June 1, 1983 [sic].

In its motion plaintiff asserts that the court lacks jurisdiction to require preparation of expert witness reports, that the Rules of the United States Claims Court and the Federal Rules of Evidence “preclude a trial predicated upon written testimony as contemplated”; that the court has denied plaintiff “its right to be heard in open Court”; and that, assuming arguendo that the court has the power to direct the reduction of expert testimony to writing, “the Department of Justice must pay those [577]*577[immense] costs as a condition to receiving the ‘testimony’ of ... [plaintiff’s] experts.”

Agreeing at least that the case is complex, plaintiff’s motion argues that the court’s reference to history and research in its November 7, 1983 order does not justify written reports because “[o]nly a constricted element of Plaintiff Tribes’ [sic] testimony, to be introduced through its experts, pertains either to research or history....” Contrary to this assertion, plaintiff’s response to defendant’s interrogatories filed on November 4, 1983, and plaintiff’s November 7,1983 supplemental pretrial statement refer to claims over periods of years long past and voluminous data. These can only be presented in court as the products of research.

In plaintiff’s accompanying legal memorandum, the November 7, 1983 order is alleged to deny plaintiff “its civil rights, including, but not limited to its right to have its day in Court pursuant to the Law”:

To strip from the Tribe the concepts of due process, by illegally requiring its experts to reduce to writing their testimony, and deliver it to the Attorney General of the United States of America, shocks the conscience and offends due process in an intolerable manner.

This argument misrepresents the ordering language which provides for both written and oral testimony, is otherwise frivolous, and will not be further considered.

Plaintiff in its memorandum also argues that the testimony of its experts constitutes work product of counsel, citing Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947). This argument ignores developments since 1946, including the 1970 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (RUSCC 26(b)(3)(A) tracks Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(4)(A)), which deemed “ill-considered” classification of an expert’s information as work product and thereby abandoned the work product doctrine as a rationale for immunizing expert information from discovery. Advisory Committee’s Note, “Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Relating to Discovery,” 48 F.R.D. 487, 504-05 (1970); see Hoover v. Department of the Inferior, 611 F.2d 1132, 1141 (5th Cir.1980); United States v. Meyer, 398 F.2d 66, 73-74 (9th Cir.1968); Beverage Marketing Corp. v. Ogilvy & Mather Direct Response, Inc., 563 F.Supp. 1013, 1014 (S.D.N.Y.1983). Plaintiff’s second argument, too, will not be further considered.

Relying on the language of RUSCC 26(b)(3)(A), plaintiff’s memorandum argues that the court lacks authority under the rule to order the preparation and pretrial exchange of expert witness reports. Rule 26(b)(3)(A), governing discovery of experts, provides in full:

(i) A party may through interrogatories require any other party to identify each person whom the other party expects to call as an expert witness at trial, to state the subject matter on which the expert is expected to testify, and to state the substance of the facts and opinions to which the expert is expected to testify and a summary of the grounds for each opinion, (ii) Upon motion, the court may order further discovery by other means, subject to such restrictions as to scope and such provisions, pursuant to subdivision (b)(3)(C) of this rule, concerning fees and expenses as the court may deem appropriate.

(Emphasis added.) The court also cited to Fed.R.Evid. 611(a), which authorizes the court to control the mode of presenting evidence so as to avoid, inter alia, needless consumption of time. Plaintiff’s memorandum, however, does not complain that Rule 611(a) itself was exceeded, although its motion makes this argument.

Thus, the issue for decision is whether the court lacks the power to order the parties in a complex case to reduce their expert testimony to writing, to exchange before trial expert reports and accompanying exhibits, and to take direct testimony based on expert reports and oral testimony. To put the issue in perspective, it is necessary to discuss the meager progress of this case since 1983.

[578]*578FACTS

Judge Davis recently described Short v. United States, 719 F.2d 1133 (Fed.Cir.1983), an Indian claims case of similar vintage, as “[t]his ancient case (commenced against the Government in the Court of Claims some two decades ago).” The ancient case at bar reveals no progress from March 26, 1982, the date on which Robert C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ardon v. United States
Federal Claims, 2026
United States v. Seefried
District of Columbia, 2022
Mitchell v. United States
Federal Claims, 2019
Fairholme Funds, Inc. v. United States
134 Fed. Cl. 680 (Federal Claims, 2017)
Anaheim Gardens v. United States
125 Fed. Cl. 88 (Federal Claims, 2016)
Estate of Rubinstein v. United States
96 Fed. Cl. 640 (Federal Claims, 2011)
Lakeland Partners, L.L.C. v. United States
88 Fed. Cl. 124 (Federal Claims, 2009)
Ag-Innovations, Inc. v. United States
82 Fed. Cl. 69 (Federal Claims, 2008)
Abruzzo v. United States
21 Cl. Ct. 351 (Court of Claims, 1990)
Dean v. United States
17 Cl. Ct. 852 (Court of Claims, 1989)
Solitron Devices, Inc. v. United States
16 Cl. Ct. 561 (Court of Claims, 1989)
Sioux Tribe of Indians v. United States
8 Cl. Ct. 80 (Court of Claims, 1985)
White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States
5 Cl. Ct. 288 (Court of Claims, 1984)
Hoopa Valley Tribe of Indians v. United States
4 Cl. Ct. 656 (Court of Claims, 1984)
White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona v. United States
4 Cl. Ct. 586 (Court of Claims, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 Cl. Ct. 575, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-mountain-apache-tribe-of-arizona-v-united-states-cc-1984.