Opinion ID: 3013538
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: District Court’s Exclusion of Expert Report

Text: The final issue raised on appeal is whether the district court abused its discretion by excluding Baer’s expert report from consideration on issues of liability. Early in the litigation, the court bifurcated the case into liability and damage phases, with expert discovery not being contemplated or authorized by any scheduling order. Baer’s attorney later retained John Agoglia as an “expert witness” regarding “the damages aspect of case” to be used by Baer “should [Defendant] raise an issue regarding the calculation of damages at summary judgment.” App. at 902, 914. Faced with the summary judgment motion, Baer attempted to include Agoglia’s report which stated “a contribution of such ideas and services [as those made by Baer] toward the creation of a television series such as The Sopranos . . . would commonly be rewarded with fixed payments and/or production bonuses and or a sliding scale of profit participation and/or screen credits in recognition of such contributions, or any combination thereof.” App. at 27. The district court excluded Agoglia’s report based on the fact that he was not presented as a liability expert and that his report did not opine on liability. App. at 175. The district court did not abuse its discretion by disregarding the report with respect to a summary judgment motion focusing solely on issues of liability. Agoglia was not presented as an expert on liability. We agree with the court’s assessment that, “I don’t see how somebody who was put forth under Rule 26 as a damages expert is going to be able to bootstrap liability issues into a summary judgment motion.” App. at 196. The damage expert’s testimony had no relevance to the questions of formation or enforceability of the purported contract. Chase named Agoglia to be an expert witness on damages; his opinions with respect to liability are simply beside the point. Baer’s brief allocates little space in presenting an argument as to how the court erred in excluding the damages report from the liability phase of the trial. Bear clearly presented Agoglia as a damages expert to the district court and his adversary. The court did not err in refusing Baer’s attempts to “bootstrap” a damages witness who repeatedly agreed that he had no legal training to testify as an 30 expert on liability.