Opinion ID: 6929124
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Jarolim’s Testimony

Text: The trial was governed by a standing order that provided: “No medical expert shall be allowed to testify unless a narrative report has been previously provided pursuant to the requirements of this order. No medical expert shall be permitted to testify on direct examination as to matters not contained in his or her narrative report.... No witness shall be permitted to testify to matters beyond the scope of the medical narrative report, detailed summary, and/or designated deposition testimony.” Id. at 288. Before trial, Dr. Dala Jarolim, an expert witness for appellees, properly prepared a medical narrative report. Subsequently, in a deposition conducted by the Angelos, Dr. Jarolim expressed her opinion that Nicholas Angelo suffered from Procan-induced lupus. She had not mentioned this opinion in her medical narrative report. In a pretrial conference where concerns about changes in opinions were discussed, the supervising magistrate judge stated: At this point in time there is certainly no surprise as to what these doctors are going to say and I would certainly think that none of these doctors at this point are going to change any of their opinions again prior to trial. In fact, I can guarantee none of them are going to change any of their opinions, subsequent to this pretrial conference. Id. at 72. At trial, Dr. Jarolim testified on direct examination that she believed that Nicholas Angelo was “suffering from a form of drug-induced lupus ... from the administration of one of his heart medicines ..., Procainamide, Procan S.R.” Id. at 146. On cross-examination the Angelos’ attorney challenged this opinion by questioning why Nicholas’s health had not improved more quickly and significantly when he stopped taking Procan. On redirect examination, Dr. Jarolim testified that when Nicholas Angelo was taken off Procan, he began taking a different drug, Quinidine, which has a lupus-like association similar to that of Procan. Id. at 179-80. At this point the Angelos objected that Dr. Jaro-lim’s testimony was “beyond the scope.” Id. The district court overruled the objection. The Angelos argue that the district court erred by overruling their objection to Dr. Jarolim’s testimony about Quinidine-induced lupus. They claim that her testimony surprised them and “gutted” their case. We review evidentiary challenges differently depending on whether the challenge was properly raised by objection at trial. We will uphold the district court's evidentiary rulings over objections properly made at trial unless the court abused its discretion, McEwen v. City of Norman, 926 F.2d 1539, 1544 (10th Cir.1991), and caused manifest injustice to the parties. Comcoa, Inc. v. NEC Tels., Inc., 931 F.2d 655, 663 (10th Cir.1991); accord Mason v. Texaco, Inc., 948 F.2d 1546, 1555 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1941, 118 L.Ed.2d 547 (1992). On the other hand, we will uphold the district court's rulings against objections not made at trial absent plain error. Fed.R.Evid. 103(d); McEwen, 926 F.2d at 1545. Furthermore, a specific overruled objection protects the record to the extent of the ground specified, but does not avail the party of other grounds that could have been raised but were not. Smith v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 814 F.2d 1481, 1486 (10th Cir.1987). We therefore must first determine what grounds were raised by the Angelos' objection. Objecting that testimony on redirect examination was “beyond the scope” would typically mean that the testimony addressed issues not raised in cross-examination. See, e.g., United States v. Hodges, 480 F.2d 229, 233 (10th Cir.1973) (explaining that redirect examination may cover areas which were the subject of cross-examination). We disagree that the Angelos’ objection meant that the testimony violated the trial protocols and the magistrate judge’s statement. Even if the Angelos’ attorney meant to make such an objection, he did not explain the objection any further to make it clear that he meant something other than what the judge would reasonably take it to mean. 2 Nor does the record indicate that the district court understood the objection to have such an uncommon meaning. The objecting party must make its objection clear; the trial judge need not imagine all the possible grounds for an objection. Cf. United States v. Willie, 941 F.2d 1384, 1394 (10th Cir.1991) (explaining that where there are both permissible and impermissible purposes for evidence, the trial judge need not seek after the purpose of the evidence or ... imagine some admissible purpose for it), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1200, 117 L.Ed.2d 440 (1992); Comcoa, Inc., 931 F.2d at 660 (requiring the grounds for objections to jury instructions to be obvious, plain, or unmistakable). We therefore review for abuse of discretion only the ruling that the trial judge apparently made: that Dr. Jarolim's testimony did not exceed the scope of cross-examination. Because the Angelos' objection did not specify that the testimony violated the standing order or the magistrate judge's statement, we review for plain error the district court's failure to exclude the testimony on those grounds. We conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by ruling that the testimony was within the scope of the cross-examination. See Hodges, 480 F.2d at 233 (“The scope of redirect examination is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and will be reversed only on a showing of abuse of that discretion.”). During direct examination, Dr. Jarolim gave her opinion that Nicholas’s symptoms were caused by Procan-indueed lupus. Appellants’ App. at 145. On cross-examination, the Angelos’ attorney tried to discredit this opinion by questioning why Nicholas had not improved more quickly and significantly after he stopped taking Procan. Id. at 162-64, 178. Dr. Jaro-lim’s challenged testimony on redirect examination was in response to this questioning. She simply explained that Nicholas may not have improved more after he stopped taking Proean because he immediately began taking Quinidine, which may cause similar lupus-like symptoms. Id. at 179. The testimony therefore was clearly within the scope of the cross-examination. Cf. United States v. Wales, 977 F.2d 1323, 1327 (9th Cir.1992) (sustaining district court’s admission of redirect testimony about typical response of travelers when told about errors in customs forms because cross-examination tried to portray defendant as typical weary and confused traveler). We also hold that the failure to exclude the testimony because it violated the standing order or magistrate judge's statement was not plain error. The Angelos bear the burden of proving plain error and that it almost surely affected the outcome of the case. Lusby v. T.G. & Y. Stores, Inc., 796 F.2d 1307, 1312 n. 4 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 884, 107 S.Ct. 275, 93 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986); see also Fed.R.Evid. 103(d) advisory committee's note (explaining that Rule 103(d), which establishes the plain error exception, is patterned after Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b)); United States v. Olano, - U.S. -, -, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1778, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993) (explaining that under Fed. R.Crim.P. 52(b), the defendant bears the burden of proving prejudicial error when no proper objection was made). In civil cases, we have limited the plain error exception to errors which seriously affect `the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.' Karns v. Emerson Elec. Co., 817 F.2d 1452, 1460 (10th Cir.1987) (quoting Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp. v. Aspen Skiing Co., 738 F.2d 1509, 1516 (10th Cir.1984), aff'd, 472 U.S. 585, 105 S.Ct. 2847, 86 L.Ed.2d 467 (1985)); accord McEwen, 926 F.2d at 1545. The exception is thus limited to exceptional cases. Aspen Highlands Skiing Corp., 738 F.2d at 1516. In fact, in analogous circumstances, where there were both proper and improper purposes for proffered evidence but no offer of proof to rule out the improper purpose, we said that the judge can do no wrong in excluding the evidence because we will not require the trial judge to imagine some admissible purpose. Willie, 941 F.2d at 1394. Here the Angelos' objection may or may not have had merit, depending on how it was understood. Absent egregious circumstances, we will not find plain error where the trial judge only perceived the obvious meritless objection and admitted the evidence. Id. The Angelos have not identified any such exceptional or egregious circumstances. They complain that the testimony and ruling surprised them, but they could have remedied the surprise by asking for a continuance. See LeMaire v. United States, 826 F.2d 949, 953 (10th Cir.1987) (“ ‘[T]he remedy for coping with surprise is not to seek reversal after an unfavorable verdict, but a request for a continuance at the time the surprise occurs.’” (quoting Szeliga v. General Motors Corp., 728 F.2d 566, 568 (1st Cir.1984))). Nor have they proved that the outcome almost certainly would have been different had the district court excluded the Quinidine testimony. We therefore conclude that the district court did not plainly err by faffing to exclude the testimony because it violated the standing order or magistrate judge’s statement.