Opinion ID: 160031
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Striking Plaintiff's Rebuttal Witness

Text: 24 Plaintiff argues that the district court erred in granting defendants' motion to strike the rebuttal opinion of his expert witness, Robert Jeffrey, Jr. This court reviews for an abuse of discretion a district court's refusal to allow rebuttal testimony. Koch v. Koch Indus., Inc., 203 F.3d 1202, 1224 (10th Cir. 2000), petition for cert. filed (U.S. July 3, 2000) (No. 00-28). The court's decisions regarding the presentation of evidence will not be disturbed absent a showing of manifest injustice to the parties. See Camcoa, Inc. v. NEC Tels., Inc., 931 F.2d 655, 663 (10th Cir. 1991). 25 Plaintiff designated Mr. Jeffrey's opinion to rebut the opinion of defendants' expert witness, Dr. Wilson D. Pace. Defendants moved to strike. In an order granting defendants' motion, the magistrate judge concluded that Mr. Jeffrey's opinion did not rebut that of Dr. Pace. Plaintiff filed a lengthy opposition to the magistrate judge's order in the form of an appeal to the district court. The district court overruled plaintiff's objections. 26 Dr. Pace rendered an opinion on the standards and procedures applicable to intern physicians in the area of plaintiff's residency and family practice. He also reviewed plaintiff's performance during his time in the residency program and rendered the opinion that the process leading to plaintiff's termination comported with the due process contained in the residency manual. Mr. Jeffrey, on the other hand, rendered his opinion in the areas of fundamentally fair personnel procedures and due process and discrimination in employment. 27 On appeal, plaintiff asserts that the district court erred in finding that Mr. Jeffrey's opinion did not rebut that of Dr. Pace. He claims that the court somehow overlooked the actual contents of plaintiff expert's opinion and failed to detect the abundant, lengthy and precise analysis vis-a-vis the residency program's written due process procedures and documents. Appellant's Br. at 66. Once again, plaintiff's argument is woefully lacking in support. He does not point this court to the record evidence of Dr. Pace's opinion allegedly rebutted by Mr. Jeffrey's opinion. Instead, he points us to statements in Mr. Jeffrey's opinion where he opines that the procedures afforded plaintiff before his termination violated Mr. Jeffrey's own perception of due process and fundamental fairness. 28 It appears, as the district court found, that Mr. Jeffrey's opinion concerned his view of due process and fundamental fairness in the workplace and his opinion of what constitutes discrimination. Our reading does not indicate that he, in any way, offered rebuttal testimony to the opinion of Dr. Pace, and therefore we cannot determine that the district court's order striking Mr. Jeffrey's opinion was an abuse of the court's discretion.