Opinion ID: 771005
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The District Court's Appointment of a Technical Advisor12

Text: 85 Plaintiffs also argue that the proceedings were tainted by the influence of Dr. Stephen Klein. Dr. Klein was appointed by the district court as a technical advisor, but was not called as an expert witness, was not subject to cross-examination, and did not furnish an expert's report. 86 In those rare cases in which outside technical expertise would be helpful to a district court, the court may appoint a technical advisor like Dr. Klein. See Reilly v. United States, 863 F.2d 149, 156 (1st Cir. 1988); see also General Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 149 (1997) (Breyer, J., concurring) (endorsing the appointment of special masters and specially trained law clerks to assist district courts with scientific or technical evidence). The court appointed Dr. Klein in an order that specifically identified him as a technical advisor. 87 Plaintiffs argue that the court committed legal error under Federal Rule of Evidence 706(a) by neither requiring Dr. Klein to submit a report nor allowing him to be cross-examined. The short answer to Plaintiffs' argument is that Rule 706 applies to court-appointed expert witnesses, but not to technical advisors like Dr. Klein. See Reilly , 863 F.2d at 155. 88 At one point in the proceedings, the district court told the parties that it intended to call Dr. Klein to testify near the conclusion of the trial and that the court would permit cross examination at that time. Had the court called him, Dr. Klein would have testified as an expert witness, and Federal Rule of Evidence 706 would have applied. But the court never called Dr. Klein, and there is no indication in the record that the court relied on Dr. Klein as a source of evidence. On this record, Dr. Klein acted only as a court-appointed technical advisor, and the district court did not err in refusing to allow cross-examination or to require an expert's report. 89 In his dissent, Judge Tashima agrees with us that district courts retain inherent authority to appoint technical advisors in appropriate cases; that this was an appropriate case for a technical advisor; that Rule 706(a) does not apply; and that we are reviewing for an abuse of discretion. 90 His disagreement rests on his analysis of how we should respond to the relative paucity of information in the record about Dr. Klein's interaction with the district court. In our view, the absence of any evidence even suggesting an impropriety on the part of the district court militates against a conclusion that the court abused its discretion. Although it is at least possible, as Judge Tashima suggests, that Dr. Klein may have impermissibly influenced the court's ultimate finding, diss. op. at 13686, we instead assume that the district court did its job properly when we lack evidence to the contrary. 13 91 Judge Tashima also proposes a list of procedures for district courts to follow when appointing technical advisors. Even assuming that those procedures are appropriate, the district court did not have the benefit of Judge Tashima's dissent before this trial, and we will not fault the court for failing to foresee his recommendations. We are not willing to find an abuse of discretion and to undo this entire trial because the district court did not follow a set of guidelines that are required nowhere in the rules or relevant case law. 92