Opinion ID: 337924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Relevant Pretrial Proceedings

Text: 3 This diversity action was commenced on October 24, 1972. Over two years later, on January 15, 1975, the court formally entered a pretrial order which incorporated the stipulations and orders made at a pretrial conference held on January 10, 1975. The pretrial order provided that all notifications of expert witnesses were to be in compliance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 26, that plaintiff would finalize the medical damage claim by furnishing to the defendant all the medical reports, that the defendant would have the plaintiff examined by its own doctor by April 1, 1975, or waive its right to do so, and that, except as set forth in the order, no additional discovery in the case would be permitted after March 15, 1975. The parties were to meet not later than the week of April 1, 1975, to prepare the report called for in the standard pretrial order of the court, the plaintiff having the principal burden for the composition of such report, which was to be filed with the court by April 10, 1975, and, if not filed, it was understood that the action would be dismissed for want of prosecution. 4 The record discloses that the terms of the pretrial order were not followed with exactitude. For instance, the report was not filed until April 15, 1975, some five days later than the date specified in the pretrial order. The parties apparently never met for the purpose of preparing the pretrial report, but they did conduct a pretrial conference on April 29, 1975. This conference occurred almost exactly two weeks after the further pretrial conference date specified in the January 15, 1975, order. 5 Even though no paragraph of the pretrial order authorized discovery after the cutoff date, the deposition of Dr. George Thuerer was taken on April 30, 1975, apparently by agreement of counsel. The joint participation of the attorneys in discovery not formally authorized by the court order represents but one instance of the considerable disregard for the exact language of the pretrial order. Despite an apparent mutuality of nonobservance of the pretrial time scheduling, 1 the defendant claims error requiring reversal arising from the plaintiff's late delivery of the expert medical reports and her asserted failure to provide the names and addresses of expert witnesses and to state the substance of the facts and opinions to which the purported experts were expected to testify. 6 The record discloses that the plaintiff-appellee presented the March 1, 1974, report of Dr. William Frackleton to the defendant-appellant on April 15, 1975. Dr. Frackleton's later medical report of February 10, 1975, was furnished to Bombardier's counsel on April 28, 1975, just six days before commencement of the trial. The February 27, 1973, medical report of Dr. George Thuerer was presented to the defendant on April 29, 1975, five days before trial and one day before the tardy deposition of the surgeon. 7 The pretrial order of January 15th not only required the exchange of the names and addresses of each party's prospective expert witnesses, together with a stipulated narrative statement of each expert's background and experience, but incorporated the requirement of Fed.R.Civ.P. 26 regarding the notifications of expert witnesses. The plaintiff's pretrial report of April 15, 1975, listed only Doctor Stanley Weiss, a metallurgist, and Doctors Thuerer and Frackleton, surgeons, as expert witnesses. The report did list as witnesses two individuals by the names of Fred Gates and Ed Kwaterski, but these prospective witnesses were not identified as experts. The standard pretrial order of the court, a copy of which was attached to the twenty-paragraph special order of January 15, 1975, stated that the court contemplated that other witnesses would not ordinarily be permitted to be called except upon a showing of surprise.