Title: Plonkey v. SUPERIOR COURT, IN AND FOR CTY. OF COCONINO
Citation: 106 Ariz. 310, 475 P.2d 492
Docket Number: 9940
State: Arizona
Issuer: Arizona Supreme Court
Date: October 16, 1970

106 Ariz. 310 (1970) 475 P.2d 492 Beverly PLONKEY, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Arizona, IN AND FOR the COUNTY OF COCONINO, and J. Thomas Brooks, a Judge thereof, John Calley and Jane Doe Calley, husband and wife, and Williams Hospital, Respondents. No. 9940. Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc. October 16, 1970. Leven B. Ferrin and Raymond Huffsteter, Phoenix, for petitioner. O'Connor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Westover, Killingsworth &amp; Beshears, Phoenix, for John and Jane Doe Calley. Fennemore, Craig, von Ammon, McClennen &amp; Udall, Phoenix, for Williams Hospital. McFARLAND, Justice. This case is before us on a petition for special action filed by the petitioner Beverly Plonkey (hereinafter referred to as petitioner) against the Superior Court of Coconino County, Arizona, and Judge J. Thomas Brooks. We accepted jurisdiction *311 of the special action, and ordered the writ of mandamus to be issued granting the petititioner the right to use Dr. Philip Kolnick as an expert witness in the above cause in which the petitioner is plaintiff, and John Calley and Jane Doe Calley, husband and wife, and Williams Hospital are defendants. The petitioner filed a complaint on January 25, 1968, against John Calley, a medical doctor, alleging malpractice in his treatment of petitioner; that interrogatories were mailed to petitioner by attorneys for respondents requesting specifically the list of all witnesses, including expert witnesses. On the 25th day of July, 1968, a pre-trial conference was held before Judge J. Thomas Brooks, at which time the court ordered that discovery be completed on or before the first day of October, 1969, and that the names of all witnesses be exchanged by opposing counsel on or before September 1, 1969, and set the trial for February 2, 1970. The order of the court required the following: The pre-trial statement listed defendant and a Dr. Ergenbright to be called as the expert witnesses. Depositions were taken of Dr. Goodfarb in December 1969; and of Dr. Manning and Dr. Goodfarb in January 1970. On January 21, 1970, the petitioner made a motion to the trial court for an "order allowing testimony of Dr. Philip Kolnick." Petitioner states in her verified petition that she had diligently attempted to obtain a medical expert to testify to the alleged malpractice of respondent, Dr. John Calley, but was unable to do so until January 21, 1970; that on that date Dr. Philip Kolnick, a medical doctor practicing in Maricopa County, reviewed the file of medical reports and X-rays involved, and advised the petitioner of his willingness to testify that respondent had failed to comply with the standards of care in that community that on the same date a call was made to the attorneys for respondents informing them of petitioner's intention to call Dr. Kolnick, and on the 22nd day of January 1970, formal petition was filed to use Dr. Philip Kolnick as an expert witness in the trial. Petitioner also states that attorneys for respondents actually conversed with Dr. Kolnick and questioned him as to what his testimony would be before the hearing. Petitioner offered to agree to a continuance of the trial from February 2, 1970, if requested by the respondents and to give respondents time to take a deposition of Dr. Kolnick. Respondents objected to granting permission for Dr. Kolnick to testify, and to any postponement of the trial, based upon the grounds that the petitioner had had sufficient time to find and disclose the name of Dr. Kolnick as an expert witness before the date of the limitation in the order of October 1, 1969; also objected to a postponement for the reason that their own expert witnesses had scheduled their practice to permit them to testify on the dates of the trial; also stating that the attorneys would not have time to prepare for cross-examination in the week before February 2, 1970. After notice and hearing, the Honorable J. Thomas Brooks denied the petition. Rule 16(a), Rules Civ.Proc., 16 A.R.S. subsection 6, provides that: The respondents in their memorandum before the trial court resisted the motion to allow Dr. Philip Kolnick to testify. In Carver v. Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, 104 Ariz. 513, 456 P.2d 371, holding that we would not reverse a trial court's exclusion of testimony of witness in such instances, unless the trial court abused its discretion, we said: It will be noted that this court pointed out that a trial court's excluding testimony of a plaintiff witness "is not without legal precedent, although admittedly it is extreme in nature and seldom invoked." This is true because in the granting of such a motion against a party solely for disobedience of a discovery order as a stringent measure should be employed only with caution and restraint particularly where there is a risk of the injustice of depriving a party of a meritorious cause of action or defense. One of the tests which should be made by the trial court is whether the failure to answer an interrogatory was wilful. In Zakroff v. May, 8 Ariz. App. 101, 443 P.2d 916, the court stated: Other courts have spoken of preclusion of testimony as a "drastic remedy." In Syracuse Broadcasting Corporation v. Newhouse, 271 F.2d 910 (C.A.2d Cir.) the court, in discussing the exclusion remedy, stated: The facts in the instant case clearly show delay in the listing of the name of Dr. Philip Kolnick was not wilful, or in any way an attempt to take advantage of the respondents. The petitioner's attorney, in support of her motion to permit the testimony of Dr. Kolnick, filed his affidavit in which he stated: This sworn statement by the attorney for the petitioner is not controverted by an affidavit or testimony of the respondents except by argument in respondent's memorandum. The respondents-defendants filed a response in opposition to the motion for allowing testimony of Dr. Philip Kolnick at the trial, but stated: The respondents-defendants, in their memorandum, relied on the record which had been made in the case up to that time principally on the fact that the case had been pending for a period of two years, and that petitioner-plaintiff had had from the 25th day of July 1968, the date of the pre-trial conference, to September 1, 1969, for the exchange of witnesses in accordance with the pre-trial order, from which he argued that it was sufficient time for the petitioner to have found her expert witness. He also bases his objection on the inconvenience to his own witnesses particularly his expert witness. The trial court was confronted then with the weighing of the hardships to the respondents-defendants against the petitioner's going to trial without an expert witness to testify in regard to the question of whether the practice used by the respondent, Dr. John Calley, had failed to comply with the standard of care in the community, which was really the gist of her lawsuit. The petitioner made every possible effort to accommodate the respondents' attorney by the immediate taking of Dr. Kolnick's deposition and agreeing to a postponement. The trial court, however, found these were matters presented not in affidavits but in oral arguments and memorandum to the court. Had the court allowed the testimony to be admitted at the time the motion was made there undoubtedly would have been inconvenience and some extra expense to the defense. But this must be weighed with the *314 question of whether the ends of justice required that there be a trial upon the principal question in the case namely, whether Dr. John Calley had failed to comply with the standards of care in the community. The question then is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying the petitioner-plaintiff this privilege. The attorney for petitioner had, in his affidavit, stated that he had searched diligently among the medical profession and in his legal profession without success, and also that the doctors "all refused to be involved in a case where a doctor is being sued for malpractice." This was the only evidence before the court on this question. The court, however, stated: This statement of the court shows that the denial of the motion was based at least partially upon the experience of the court in other cases. While it was a natural thing for the court to do, and for this reason we do not feel that we should be too critical of the court in this regard; however, this evidence which the court was considering was not before the court in this trial, and the petitioner had no opportunity to refute it. We therefore accordingly hold that it was abuse of the court's discretion to use its own experience as evidence in the instant case. In Washington Hospital Center v. Cheeks, 129 U.S.App.D.C. 339, 394 F.2d 964 in an opinion written by Judge Burger he stated: In the instant case we hold that the merits of the case required that Dr. Philip Kolnick be permitted to testify. The writ of mandamus is made permanent. LOCKWOOD, C.J., STRUCKMEYER, V.C.J., and UDALL and HAYS, JJ., concur.