Case Name: Donald Robert TINSLEY, et al., Relators, v. The Honorable Dan DOWNEY, Judge of the 295th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Respondent
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1992-01-16
Citations: 822 S.W.2d 784
Docket Number: No. C14-91-00489-CV
Parties: Donald Robert TINSLEY, et al., Relators, v. The Honorable Dan DOWNEY, Judge of the 295th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Respondent.
Judges: Before ROBERTSON, SEARS and DRAUGHN, JJ.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 822
Pages: 784–789

Head Matter:
Donald Robert TINSLEY, et al., Relators, v. The Honorable Dan DOWNEY, Judge of the 295th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Respondent.
No. C14-91-00489-CV.
Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).
Jan. 16, 1992.
John W. Turner, Kevin Dubose, Houston, for relators.
Daniel M. McClure, Ben Taylor, Houston, for respondent.
Before ROBERTSON, SEARS and DRAUGHN, JJ.

Opinion:
MAJORITY OPINION
ON SECOND MOTION FOR REHEARING
SEARS, Justice.
On second motion for rehearing, the pri- or opinion is withdrawn and this opinion is substituted. The second motion for rehearing is overruled.
In this original proceeding, relators Tins-ley et al., urge us to issue a writ of mandamus directing respondent, the Honorable Dan Downey, to withdraw his order striking four expert witnesses in Cause No. 86-23440. On June 4, 1991, we granted leave to file petition for writ of mandamus. We now conditionally grant the writ.
Relator filed plaintiffs original petition on May 22, 1986, against real parties in interest, Missouri Pacific Railroad Company and A.C. Strunck (hereinafter called Mo-Pac), to recover damages arising from a car-train collision. MoPac served interrogatories on relator on July 21,1986, requesting the identity of all expert witnesses. At that time relator answered that none were designated.
On November 5, 1990, relator amended its response and designated eight experts who might testify at trial. On this same day, the case was set for trial on August 19, 1991. MoPac subsequently filed a motion to strike the expert witnesses. They allege that the case had been on the dismissal docket on three occasions, retained once by order of the court and dismissed twice but reinstated. MoPac refers to one of the motions to reinstate in which attorneys for relator allege that nothing was left to be done to get ready for trial other than depose "the experts from both sides." Mo-Pac concludes that, because the case had been on file for four-and-one-half years before the designation of experts, and because relator had acknowledged in the motion to reinstate that there were experts to be deposed, the subsequent designation was not timely even though it was nine and one half months prior to date that trial was to commence. Relator sets out in the response to the motion to strike that at the time of the designation of experts the case had not been set for trial, nor had the court set a deadline for designation of experts or for any other discovery deadline. Relator specifically points out in the response that the defendants are "attempting to deprive plaintiff from having a fair trial because it will be necessary to call experts to reconstruct the accident."
The trial court conducted a hearing on January 11, 1991, after which Judge Dow-ney requested counsel for relator to file a letter with the court designating each prospective expert witness and the dates on which each witness was first "contacted" in connection with this lawsuit. On January 21, 1991, counsel for relator filed a letter with the court which shows that the experts in question were initially contacted for "investigative purposes" on varying dates from June of 1986 to March of 1987. On April 30,1991, the trial court entered an order which prohibited the four reconstruction and train experts from testifying at trial. (The court did not strike the medical experts). The writ of mandamus is directed at this order.
The proper standard of review is abuse of discretion. Johnson v. Fourth Court of Appeals, 700 S.W.2d 916, 917 (Tex.1985). Thus, mandamus will issue only upon a showing of a clear abuse of discretion or violation of duty, or where there is no other adequate remedy by law. Id. (citing State v. Walker, 679 S.W.2d 484, 485 (Tex.1984)). In determining whether such abuse exists, the appellate court should not apply its own opinion of whether the action taken was appropriate. See Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 241 (Tex.1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1159, 106 S.Ct. 2279, 90 L.Ed.2d 721 (1986). Rather, it is whether the trial court acted unreasonably, that is, without reference to any rules or principles. Id. at 241-42. Some practitioners may prefer to pursue a writ of mandamus because it appears easier to prove an abuse of discretion than to prove on appeal that the court's ruling probably led to the rendering of an improper judgment. See generally, Cassidy, The Instant Freeze-Dried Guide to Mandamus Procedure in Texas Courts, 31 So. Tex.L.Rev. 509, 512 (1990) (thorough discussion on the availability of writs of mandamus). However, the Texas Supreme Court has warned that it is incorrect to think "that mandamus is the 'timely' remedy for any wrongful denial of discovery." Pope v. Stephenson, 787 S.W.2d 953, 954 (Tex.1990).
Courts will deny mandamus if another remedy is adequate. Street v. Second Court of Appeals, 715 S.W.2d 638, 639-40 (Tex.1986). However, a gross abuse of discretion will allow courts to issue a writ of mandamus even if there are alternate remedies available. See State v. Sewell, 487 S.W.2d 716, 718 (Tex.1972). Generally, courts of appeal are discouraged from getting involved in incidental pre-trial rulings. Braden v. Downey, 811 S.W.2d 922, 928 (Tex.1991, orig. proceeding).
Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 166b(6)(b), provides in pertinent parts as follows:
If the party expects to call an expert witness when the identity or the subject matter of such expert witness' testimony has not been previously disclosed in response to an appropriate inquiry . such response must be supplemented . as soon as is practical, but in no event less than thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of trial except on leave of court, (emphasis added).
Appellate courts have disagreed as to the amount of time which would satisfy the "as soon as is practical" requirement. In Mother Frances Hosp. v. Coats, 796 S.W.2d 566, 568 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1990), designation of seventeen experts thirty-one days before trial was not an abuse of discovery and was not considered to be in violation of Rule 166b(6)(b). One witness, however, was struck because she had not been designated as an expert until one year after the defendant used her affidavit in a motion for summary judgment. This designation, the court ruled, was not "as soon as practical." See also Williams v. Crier, 734 S.W.2d 190 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1987, orig. proceeding) (abuse of discretion to strike witness designated forty-two days before trial). Conversely, in Builder's Equipment Co. v. Onion, 713 S.W.2d 786, 787 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1986), no abuse of discretion was found where testimony was suppressed when the designation of experts was thirty-one days before trial. That court held that "it is in the trial court's discretion to determine whether relator used due diligence in seeking out and identifying . its expert witnesses." Id. at 788.
The purpose of sanctions for abuse of discovery is to ensure compliance with the rules and as a deterrence to future abuse. See Stoll v. Rothchild, 763 S.W.2d 437, 440 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1988, writ denied). Tex.R.Civ.P. 215(5) in pertinent part provides: "[a] party who fails to respond to or supplement his response to a request for discovery shall not be entitled to . offer the testimony of an expert witness . unless . good cause . exists." However, "nothing in the rules requires a party to seek out its expert at a particular time during pre-trial." Mother Frances Hosp. v. Coats, 796 S.W.2d 566, 571 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1990).
In Forscan v. Touchy, 743 S.W.2d 722, 724 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1987), this court denied a writ of mandamus when the relator's expert witnesses were struck because they were designated after discovery deadlines were set by the trial court. In Forscan, a panel of this court noted in dicta that mandamus would not issue where there is an adequate remedy at law such as in an appeal by way of a bill of exception. We disagree with the previous language used by this court in Forscan. Asking a panel of three judges to determine what a jury of twelve would have done had they heard the testimony of expert witnesses is too great a burden to place upon the appellate courts and is simply not an adequate remedy. Although appellate courts should not step in every time sanctions are imposed for abuse of discovery, if the sanction would "preclude a decision on the merits of a party's claim . [the] party's remedy by eventual appeal is inadequate." Transamerican Natural Gas Corp. v. Powell, 811 S.W.2d 913, 920 (Tex.1991, orig. proceeding).
The Supreme Court has recently taken a strong position regarding unjust sanctions. See Transamerican Natural Gas Corp. v. Powell, 811 S.W.2d 913 (Tex.1991, orig. proceeding). The Supreme Court set out guidelines that deal with the imposition of sanctions that may be considered a "death penalty" to plaintiffs cause of action. First, the court held that "a direct relationship must exist between the offensive conduct and the sanction imposed." Second, the court found that the "sanctions must not be excessive," and that "the punishment should fit the crime." Id. at 917. We also find that any sanction imposed by a trial court for discovery abuse should never be more severe than necessary to satisfy the legitimate purposes of the court. Where less severe sanctions are possible, and would tend to promote compliance with the orderly trial of lawsuits, trial courts should apply the less severe sanctions.
There is nothing in this record to indicate when relators made a decision to designate the experts in question as testifying experts. Generally, a plaintiff may contact an expert for investigative purposes months or years prior to trial, and may not make the determination to use that witness as a testifying expert unless and until all other discovery is completed and the expert has had an opportunity to review all of the evidence, deposition testimony, and any other facts pertinent to formulating the expert's opinion.
Based upon the nature and difficulty of this type of lawsuit, as well as the length of time between the designation of the experts and the date the case was set for trial, we find that striking the witnesses was an abuse of discretion. The conduct of the relator was not so offensive as to warrant the excessive sanction of loss of expert witnesses. The punishment was more severe than necessary to accomplish the legitimate purpose of the court. Parties are not required to designate experts as soon as they are "contacted," whether they are initially contacted for investigative purposes or to testify as experts at time of trial. The trial court clearly based its ruling on time of contact. Therefore, we find no violation of Rule 166b(6), and we conditionally grant relator's petition for writ of mandamus. The writ will issue only if Judge Downey does not withdraw his order striking the expert witnesses' testimony.