Opinion ID: 2979036
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Robert Reid’s Expert Report

Text: The district court did not abuse its discretion in barring the use of Robert Reid’s expert report because the report failed to comply with the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B). Reid’s two-page report did not meet Rule 26(a)(2)(B)(i)’s requirement that an expert report be “a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them.” Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1) states that “[i]f a party fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) or (e), the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.” Although Olmstead argues before this court that any deficiencies in Reid’s report were harmless and remedied by the submission of an affidavit further explaining Reid’s report, Olmstead did not argue harmlessness before the district court. Instead, Olmstead argued only that Reid’s expert report met the requirements of Rule 26(a). Because Reid’s expert report did not satisfy Rule 26(a)(2)(B) and Olmstead did not meet its burden of showing that the error was justified or harmless, the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the report. Rule 26(a)(2)(B) requires all expert reports to contain the following: (i) a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them; (ii) the data or other information considered by the witness in forming them; (iii) any exhibits that will be used to summarize or support them; (iv) the witness’s qualifications, including a list of all publications authored in the previous 10 years; No. 09-3428 R.C. Olmstead, Inc. v. CU Interface, LLC, et al. Page 10 (v) a list of all other cases in which, during the previous four years, the witness testified as an expert at trial or by deposition; and (vi) a statement of the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony in the case. The district court clearly outlined the deficiencies in Reid’s report. Most troubling of the violations that the district court described is Reid’s failure, in violation of Rule 26(a)(2)(B)(i), to give “a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them.” Reid provided only cursory support for his conclusion that the “CU[I] software was developed by copying the Olmstead software.” Reid did identify four examples of similarities between the CUI and Olmstead software and stated that he could identify other similarities, but he failed to discuss the basis of his conclusion that the alleged similarities were the result of copying of the Olmstead software by CUI. “[A]n expert opinion must ‘set forth facts’ and, in doing so, outline a line of reasoning arising from a logical foundation.” Brainard v. Am. Skandia Life Assur. Corp., 432 F.3d 655, 657 (6th Cir. 2005). After reading Reid’s report, CUI was only slightly more informed about the basis of Olmstead’s argument that CUI had copied Olmstead than CUI would have been by merely reading Olmstead’s complaint. The lack of reasoning describing why any alleged similarities indicated copying, Reid’s statement that he could identify other similarities, and Reid’s failure to tie any alleged similarities between the CUI and Olmstead software to the screenshot exhibits in the appendix together show that the report failed to meet the requirements of the rule. Under Rule 26(a), a “report must be complete such that opposing counsel is not forced to depose an expert in order to avoid an ambush at trial; and moreover the report must be sufficiently complete so as to shorten or decrease the need for expert depositions and thus to conserve resources.” Salgado v. Gen. Motors Corp., 150 F.3d 735, 742 n.6 (7th Cir. 1998) (citing Sylla-Sawdon v. Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co., 47 F.3d 277, 284 (8th Cir. 1995)). “Expert reports must include ‘how’ and ‘why’ the expert reached a particular result, not merely the expert’s conclusory opinions.” Id. Reid’s report plainly failed to clear this hurdle. No. 09-3428 R.C. Olmstead, Inc. v. CU Interface, LLC, et al. Page 11 In arguing that Reid’s report satisfied Rule 26(a), Olmstead asserts that much of the information not contained in the report was already known to the opposing parties and the court. Specifically, Olmstead points to the production of Reid’s resume prior to the production of the report, and the fact that the district court and CUI determined the manner of Reid’s review of the software. However, these arguments do not remedy the critical error in the report—its failure to explain the basis for Reid’s conclusion. On this critical point, Olmstead states only that “Reid viewed the features of the two software products and concluded that the similarities between them were such that copying was obvious.” Without more explanation of how Reid came to this conclusion, the report does not satisfy the requirements of Rule 26(a). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1) states that “[i]f a party fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) or (e), the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.” Because Reid’s report failed to meet the requirements of Rule 26(a), the district court did not abuse its discretion in barring Olmstead from using the report under Rule 37(c)(1). “Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1) requires absolute compliance with Rule 26(a), that is, it ‘mandates that a trial court punish a party for discovery violations in connection with Rule 26 unless the violation was harmless or is substantially justified.’” Roberts v. Galen of Virginia, Inc., 325 F.3d 776, 782 (6th Cir. 2003) (quoting Vance v. United States, No. 98-5488, 1999 WL 455435, at  (6th Cir. June 25, 1999)). The burden is on the potentially sanctioned party to prove harmlessness. Id. Because Olmstead argued before the district court only that Reid’s report plainly satisfied Rule 26(a) and did not argue that any deficiencies were justified or harmless, the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the report. Olmstead argues, for the first time on appeal, that “[r]egardless of whether Reid’s report strictly complied with Rule 26, the exclusion of his testimony was unwarranted.” The thrust of Olmstead’s argument is that because CUI was not required to identify its own expert until several months after the production of Reid’s initial report and because No. 09-3428 R.C. Olmstead, Inc. v. CU Interface, LLC, et al. Page 12 any deficiencies in Reid’s report were cured by Reid’s supplemental declaration, which was produced two months before the deadline for CUI to identify its expert, CUI suffered no harm as a result of the report’s shortcomings. At first blush, the exclusion of Reid’s report seems particularly damaging to Olmstead when combined with the district court’s holding that only experts and counsel would be able to view the CUI software. It is true, also, that “Rule 37(c)(1) does not compel the district judge to exclude testimony in its entirety.” Roberts, 325 F.3d at 784. However, as discussed below in relation to Olmstead’s copyright claim, even Reid’s supplemental declaration fell woefully short of the rigorous abstraction-filtration-comparison analysis required to find substantial similarity in copyright claims. Neither Reid’s report nor his additional declaration makes any attempt to identify those elements of the Olmstead software that are unique and original, rather than necessary to the function of any credit union software. Therefore, Olmstead has not met its burden of showing that its Rule 26 errors were harmless or justified.