Opinion ID: 1058370
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Unavailability of Defense Expert Witness

Text: The defendants next argue that the trial court erred in denying a motion for a mistrial or a continuance where a defense expert witness, Dr. Hays, was unavailable to testify at trial due to a sudden serious illness. The plaintiff argues that the trial court did not err in denying the motion for a mistrial or a continuance because the defendants opted not to accept the trial court's proposed alternatives. The record establishes that during trial, the defendants told the trial court that Dr. Hays was unavailable to testify because he had been diagnosed with cancer and forced to undergo immediate treatments. The defendants argued that Dr. Hays was their key expert witness and that their defense would be prejudiced without his testimony because he was a local doctor from Nashville. The trial court offered to allow the defendants to videotape an evidentiary deposition in the courtroom pending Dr. Hays' ability to do so. The trial court also stated that it would consider whether Dr. Hays' physical condition or state of mind adversely affected the deposition. The trial court denied the defendants' motion for a mistrial or continuance finding, [i]f he was your only expert, I think that would be a different situation. Whether to grant a mistrial or a continuance is left to the sound discretion of the trial court. Saylor, 117 S.W.3d at 250; Blake v. Plus Mark, Inc., 952 S.W.2d 413, 415 (Tenn.1997). Here, the trial court considered the defendants' arguments and proposed several procedures short of declaring a mistrial or continuing the trial. The trial court explored the possibility of obtaining Dr. Hays' deposition, an option the defense ultimately chose not to pursue. The trial court noted that the defendants were not left without an expert witness; to the contrary, the defense was able to present Dr. Eichorn, whom the trial court found was a very credible witness and a good witness for the defense. Moreover, the trial court had already ruled that Dr. Hays' deposition was too speculative to testify on the carotid artery occlusion theory. Finally, the defendants' motion came after the plaintiff had already presented extensive evidence in a trial that had started some seven years after the decedent's death. Given these circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for a mistrial or a continuance.