Opinion ID: 202072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defense Expert Testimony

Text: 15
16 Dr. Feliciano-Hill argues that, pursuant to Daubert and Rule 702, the district court should have refused to admit Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony as evidence. The district court denied Dr. Feliciano-Hill's motion both because it was untimely — Dr. Feliciano-Hill waited until the moments before Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony to object, even though she had received the doctor's report five months earlier — and because Dr. Sierra-Zorita's report and proposed testimony met the applicable standard. The district court was correct on both grounds. 17 Parties have an obligation to object to an expert's testimony in a timely fashion, so that the expert's proposed testimony can be evaluated with care. Dr. Feliciano-Hill did not make a timely motion here and has not offered any reason for her delay. The district court was on firm ground in refusing her motion as untimely. See Alfred v. Caterpillar, Inc., 262 F.3d 1083, 1087 (10th Cir.2003) (explaining that because Daubert generally contemplates a `gatekeeping' function, not a `gotcha' junction, untimely Daubert motions should be considered only in rare circumstances); see also Club Car, Inc. v. Club Car (Quebec) Import, Inc. 362 F.3d 775, 780 (11th Cir.2004) (A Daubert objection not raised before trial may be rejected as untimely.). 18 In any case, Dr. Feliciano-Hill's Daubert motion lacked merit. Dr. Feliciano-Hill argues that Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony should have been excluded because Dr. Sierra-Zorita's opinion differed from that of Dr. Feliciano-Hill's treating physician, Dr. Gonzalez-Alcover, a very well respected and beloved rheumatologist, and because Dr. Sierra-Zorita's report did not cite[] medical authorities and w[as] based on `experience' and general knowledge. The mere fact that two experts disagree is not grounds for excluding one's testimony. Even if we were to assume that Dr. Gonzalez-Alcover was somehow more qualified than Dr. Sierra-Zorita — and there is no reason in the record for us to do so — the district court could not have excluded Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony on that ground alone. See Holbrook v. Lykes Bros. S.S. Co., 80 F.3d 777, 782 (3d Cir.1996) ([W]itnesses may be competent to testify as experts even though they may not, in the court's eyes, be the `best' qualified. Who is `best' qualified is a matter of weight upon which reasonable jurors may disagree.). 19 We also reject Dr. Feliciano-Hill's assertion that Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony did not meet the standard of Daubert and Rule 702 because the doctor failed to support his diagnosis with citations to published authorities. As the district court noted, the underlying medical question — whether Dr. Feliciano-Hill's medical condition prevented her from walking around the hospital — was not a complex medical situation. Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony and report did not involve novel medical theories. The doctor was called upon only to offer a routine diagnosis, on a patient he had examined, pertaining to a common condition well within his particular expertise. In this case, the doctor's training and experience placed his report and testimony well above the Rule 702/Daubert bar. Indeed, even in more complicated cases when an examining physician calls upon training and experience to offer a differential diagnosis (a determination of which of two or more diseases, presenting with similar symptoms, has caused a patient's ailments), most courts have found no Daubert problem. See, e.g., Bitler v. A.O. Smith Corp., 391 F.3d 1114, 1123 (10th Cir.2004) (collecting cases holding that qualified doctor's differential diagnosis of patient was sufficiently reliable for Rule 702 and Daubert purposes); Mattis v. Carlon Elec. Products, 295 F.3d 856, 861 (8th Cir.2002) (A medical opinion based upon a proper differential diagnosis is sufficiently reliable to satisfy Daubert. ).
20 Dr. Feliciano-Hill argues that the district court should have instructed the jury that Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony should only be considered on the question of whether Dr. Feliciano-Hill was disabled, not on the issue of reasonable accommodation. The district court denied the motion both because it was untimely — Feliciano-Hill had not requested the instruction in her written proposed jury instructions, which the court had adopted — and because it was unnecessary. Again, the district court ruled correctly. 21 The instruction Dr. Feliciano-Hill requested was plainly unnecessary. The district court noted, and the transcript confirms, that [t]he witness was . . . crystal clear that he had no opinion regarding the reasonableness of a motorized wheelchair as an accommodation for a person with rheumatoid arthritis. As the district court concluded, The jury ha[d] that message. The district court did not err in refusing to offer an unnecessary instruction about the scope of Dr. Sierra-Zorita's testimony. See, e.g., Elliott v. S.D. Warren Co., 134 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir.1998) (finding no error in district court's refusal to give requested instruction that was unnecessary to explain the applicable law to the jury).