Opinion ID: 1958884
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Prohibiting defendant's expert from testifying as to the cause of the August 25 accident.

Text: At trial defendant's expert on braking systems, Gary Whitcomb, was prepared to testify, after viewing the scene, that driver inattention was the cause of the August 25 accident. At his deposition, however, Whitcomb has testified that there was insufficient evidence to form an opinion as to the cause of the accident. At the beginning of trial, the parties agreed and the Court ordered that the witness would be confined to the opinions expressed in his deposition because he had not been listed as a witness in defendant's pre-trial memorandum and defendant had failed to respond to an interrogatory propounded pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(4). Defendant now ignores the procedural background and argues that because plaintiffs' expert was allowed to change his opinion, fairness required the admission of Whitcomb's changed opinion. We hold that the Court committed no error in rejecting defendant's argument or in excluding the witness's opinion testimony as a sanction for failure to comply with a discovery request. See M.R.Civ.P. 37(d).