Court Opinion

ID: 9748410
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:01:12.266198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:35.092846
License: Public Domain

Justice NIGRO,
dissenting.
As I believe that the coordinate jurisdiction rule barred Judge Abramson from reconsidering the discovery and expert report deadlines in the case management order, and that, under the circumstances, he was not free to consider on *149summary judgment the expert reports Appellees submitted after the cut-off date for such reports in the court scheduling order, I respectfully dissent.
More civil litigation occurs in Philadelphia County than in the remaining counties of this Commonwealth combined. Several years ago, the county had reached a point where its inventory of cases essentially overwhelmed it.1 Among the measures the First Judicial District (“First District”) took to remedy this judicial gridlock was the adoption of strict case management orders. These orders were designed to move eases through the system, from Complaint to trial, in anywhere from one to three years, depending largely on the complexity of the case. As part of that reorganization, the First District issued a regulation that prohibited parties from unilaterally extending case management deadlines by agreement and clarified that any petition to extend a deadline had to be filed with the court before that deadline had passed. See Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Reg. No. 95-1; see also Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Reg. No. 95-2. Thereafter, it issued an administrative order, stating that no new expert reports could be submitted after the passing of an expert report deadline, absent extraordinary circumstances. Admin. Doc. No. 3 of 1998, reprinted in 28 Pa. Bull. 2919.
The majority of this Court has determined that these procedures, while successful in reducing the litigation logjam,2 are inconsistent with the Rules of Civil Procedure and, therefore, cannot be enforced. I simply cannot agree with this conclusion. First, contrary to the majority, I do not read Rule *1501035.3(b), regarding responses to summary judgment motions, as permitting the responding party to supplement the record without limitation after discovery is closed. In my view, in order to avoid eviscerating the statewide rules of discovery, permissible “supplementation” under Rule 1035.3(b) after discovery has ended must be limited to materials that the supplementing party was not previously obligated to provide to its opponent pursuant to the Rules of Civil Procedure or court order.3 Thus, the party may, as a general rule, supplement the record with new affidavits of testifying witnesses, evidence that was never requested in discovery or supplemental discovery responses that it was not otherwise required to serve under Rule 4007.4.4 However, I simply do not believe that after discovery has ended, a party should be able to use Rule 1035.3(b) as a mechanism by which to belatedly produce evidence it has improperly withheld.5 Similarly, after a court-imposed deadline for expert reports has passed, a party should not be able to utilize Rule 1035.3(b) to produce new expert reports with impunity, as the majority suggests.6
*151In his concurring opinion, Justice Saylor does not specifically address the scope of permissible supplementation under Rule 1035.3, but rather focuses on the procedures a party must utilize in order to have objectionable material stricken from the record. In that regard, Justice Saylor would place the burden on the party seeking summary judgment not only to move to px-eclude any objectionable evidence, but also to prove that it will be pi'ejudiced by its opponent’s use of such evidence.7 I recognize that it will often be necessary for the party seeking summary judgment to file some sort of motion to alert the court that the non-moving party has introduced evidence into the record that should be pi’ecluded, but I do not believe that the Rules of Civil Procedure require such a motion when the opposing party has failed to produce an expert report by a court-imposed deadline. Moreover, in such circumstances, I do not believe that the Rules require the party that objects to the evidence to establish prejudice in order for the Court to px*eclude the previously undisclosed expert from testifying.
In reaching the conclusion that preclusion can only be accomplished by motion, Justice Saylor relies primarily on Rule 4019(a)(1), which empowers a court “on motion” to enter a preclusionary order as a discovery sanction and requires a consideration of prejudice. Pa.R.Civ.P. 4019(a)(1). The Rules of Civil Procedure, however, treat failure to identify experts separately from the more routine failures to comply with discovery that Rule 4019(a)(1) is primarily designed to ad*152dress,8 and clearly permit the court to preclude undisclosed experts without a motion or finding of prejudice. See Pa. R.Civ. P. 4008.5(b); Pa. R.Civ. P. 4019(i). Specifically, Rule 4003.5(b) states that “[a]n expert witness whose identity is not disclosed in compliance with subdivision (a)(1) of this rule [in response to expert interrogatories] shall not be permitted to testify on behalf of the defaulting party at the trial of the action.”9 Pa.R.Civ.P. 4008.5(b) (emphasis added). Similarly, Rule 4019(i) states with respect to witnesses in general that “a [witness whose identity has not been revealed as provided in this chapter [regarding discovery] shall not be permitted to testify on behalf of the defaulting party at the trial of the action.” 10 Pa.R.Civ.P. 4019(i). The only required exception to either of these rules is when the failure to disclose the witness “is the result of extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the defaulting party," in which case the “court may grant a continuance or other appropriate relief.”11 Pa. R.Civ.P. 4003.5(b) (emphasis added); Pa.R.Civ.P. 4019(f).
*153Given these rules, I believe that it is clearly within a judicial district’s prerogative to set strict case management deadlines for the identification of experts, and to impose penalties of preclusion for failure to meet those deadlines. Moreover, as the Rules require only that the court consider whether “extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the defaulting party” excuse such a default, a judicial district is free to permit preclusion of experts without requiring a finding of prejudice. Significantly, the First District’s protocol in Administrative Docket No. 03 of 1998 essentially tracks the “extenuating circumstances” language of the rules, stating that “[t]he dates set forth in the Case Management Order are deadlines after which, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, no new experts or theories can be identified.” Accordingly, unlike the majority, I believe that enforcement of the First District’s scheduling orders and preclusion of expert witnesses who are not identified by the date set forth in any such order are entirely consistent with the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure.
I also believe that enforcement of the scheduling order in the instant case led to a fair and equitable result. Appellees filed their initial complaint in this case on April 10, 1997. On July 24, 1997, the trial court entered its scheduling order, giving the parties over fifteen months (until November 2, 1998) to conduct discovery, and not requiring Appellees to submit expert reports until December 7, 1998. It was not until November 14, 1998, almost sixteen months later, and nearly two weeks after the November 2nd discovery cut-off date, that Appellees filed their motion for extraordinary relief, asking for yet another nine months of discovery and an extension of the expert deadlines. In their motion, Appellees represented that one of the corporate defendants was suffering financial hardship and no longer had counsel. They further represented that there were “several days of depositions left to be taken” and therefore contended that the requested extension was both necessary and warranted. However, nowhere in the motion did Appellees state when in *154the nearly sixteen months allotted for discovery the defendant had lost its counsel, thus stalling discovery.12 Nor did they attempt to explain what discovery they had conducted in the preceding months or detail what discovery remained to be taken.13 Moreover, in filing their motion after the discovery deadline, Appellees violated the local court rule that petitions for extraordinary relief must be filed “prior to the deadline that is sought to be changed.” Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Reg. No. 95-2. Under these circumstances, where there was no indication that Appellees made a good faith attempt to comply with the more than reasonable scheduling order, I do not believe that Judge O’Keefe erred in denying their motion for extraordinary relief.14
*155Furthermore, Judge O’Keefe having denied the motion, I believe that the coordinate jurisdiction rule precluded Judge Abramson from reconsidering the discovery and expert deadlines and, instead, obligated him to enforce them. The majority posits two reasons why the coordinate jurisdiction rule did not preclude Judge Abramson from considering the untimely expert reports. First, it states that “it was perfectly proper for Judge Abramson to reexamine the discovery timetable in order to correct [Judge O’Keefe’s] error” under the “manifest injustice” exception to the coordinate jurisdiction rule. Majority Op. at 783. Initially, I note that the sole authority for the “manifest injustice” exception is this Court’s dicta in Commonwealth v. Starr, 541 Pa. 564, 664 A.2d 1326, 1332 (1995), rendering the exception of questionable validity. Moreover, in my view, such an exception is fraught with peril, because, if applied too liberally, it essentially invites judges to ignore any prior ruling which will arguably alter the course of the litigation and with which the judge disagrees. That said, assuming arguendo that the exception is valid in certain limited circumstances, I disagree that it would apply here, because, in my view, Judge O’Keefe did not err.
The majority also states that the coordinate jurisdiction rule does not apply because Judge O’Keefe and Judge Abramson were asked to resolve two different questions. However, while the ultimate question Judge Abramson was asked to resolve, i.e., whether summary judgment should be granted, was distinguishable from the question Judge O’Keefe considered, i.e., whether deadlines should be extended, the same is not true of the threshold question necessarily before Judge Abramson, i.e., whether to retroactively extend the expert deadline Judge O’Keefe had enforced so as to permit consideration of Appellees’ expert reports in connection with the summary judgment motion. Given that Judge Abramson was, at least in my view, precluded under the coordinate jurisdiction rule from second-guessing Judge O’Keefe’s refusal to extend the expert deadline, he was barred from considering the untimely expert reports when ruling on summary judg*156ment.15 On the other hand, whether or not to grant summary judgment on the remaining evidence was a new question that Judge Abramson was free to resolve independently.
For the foregoing reasons, I would reverse the order of the Superior Court and reinstate the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Appellant Shincor Silicones, Inc. and against Appellees.

. As recenlly as 1994, civil litigants in Philadelphia had to wait an average of five to six years for a trial, and the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County had a backlog of 28,000 major jury cases. See Introduction, Civil Trial Division Administration at a Glance 2000 ("Civil Administration 2000”).

. The success of this new case management system has been dramatic. By 1999, the current inventory of major jury cases in the First District was just 6,000. See Introduction, Civil Administration 2000. Moreover, the average wait for trial in simple cases was just one year, just two years in standard cases, and just three years in complex major jury cases. Id. Notably, these time frames are consistent with the recommended standards for Civil Delay Reduction set forth by the American Bar Association. Id.

. Rule of Civil Procedure 1035.1 defines "record” to include all of the pleadings, as well as the discovery materials and expert reports already exchanged, even though these materials may not have been filed with the court and, thus, made part of the official court record. The "supplemental” record material contemplated in Rule 1035.3(b) must therefore refer to something other than- the pleadings, discovery and expert reports already exchanged.

. Under Rule of Civil Procedure 4007.4, a party has no duty to supplement its prior discovery responses to include information thereafter acquired except in specified circumstances. Pa.R.Civ.P. 4007.4. Accordingly, supplementation under Rule 1035.3(b) after the close of discovery may include material that is responsive to previous discovery, but which the party had no duty to produce pursuant to Rule 4007.4.

. If, on the other hand, a summary judgment motion is filed before the close of discovery, supplementation under Rule 1035.3(b) permits the responding party to attach to its response additional evidence that has been produced in the ongoing discovery.

. The majority contends that the explanatory comment to Rule 1035.2 supports its conclusion that broader supplementation is permitted even after discovery is closed and expert report deadlines have passed. I disagree. Although the comment states that the purpose of the rule is "not to eliminate meritorious claims prematurely before relevant discovery has been completed,” I do not read this as dictating that scheduling deadlines must be overridden any time a party has failed to *151properly develop its cases within the time restrictions set forth in the court schedule. Rather, I understand the comment to state merely that courts should not grant summary judgment before giving the opposing party a reasonable opportunity to develop its opposition, as is done by setting forth a reasonable time period for discovery.

. Justice Saylor states that ”[i]n the absence of an order imposing preclusive sanctions, Civil Procedure Rule 1035.3(b) grants the non-moving party thirty days to supplement the record in response to a summary judgment motion.” This puts the cart before the horse. A party cannot be expected to move to preclude evidence that it does not know exists. Moreover, even if the party is somehow alerted to the withheld evidence prior to its receipt of the summary judgment response, we simply cannot expect it to move to preclude the evidence before its opponent seeks to rely upon it.

. The motions contemplated in Rule 4019(a)(1) are typically motions to compel discovery during the discovery period, such as motions to compel answers to interrogatories or document requests, motions to compel the identification of a corporate designee, and motions to compel witnesses to appear at deposition. See Pa. R.Civ. P. 4019(a)(l)(i)-(viii). It is self-evident that such issues, which arise while the parties are independently conducting discovery, require the filing of a motion in order to obtain the court’s attention.

. Subdivision (a)(1) of the Rule requires a party served with expert interrogatories to provide not only the name of any expert it expects to call as a witness at trial, but also the "substance of the facts and opinions to which the expert is expected to testify and a summary of the grounds for each opinion." Pa. R.Civ. P. 4003.5(a)(1).

. The 1978 Explanatory Note to Rule 4019(i) reiterates yet again that: "Subdivision (i) adds a new provision for sanctions for failure to identity witnesses as to whom discovery has been sought. A witness whose identity has not been revealed as provided by the Rules will not be permitted to testify at trial. If the failure to disclose his identity was the result of extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the defaulting party, the court may grant a continuance or other appropriate relief.”

. I recognize that in Feingold v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, this Court stated that the text of Rule 4003.5(b) "specifically provides that the presiding court must balance the facts and circumstances of each case to determine the prejudice to each party.” 512 Pa. 567, 517 A.2d 1270, 1273 (1986). However, I simply do not see *153such a requirement in the language of the rule and, therefore, respectfully disagree.

. Specifically, the motion stated that "[a]s a result of the downturn in the Asian economy, Defendant John Royle has suffered serious financial setbacks at the current time. Upon advice of counsel for Defendant John Royle[J it is understood that John Royle is in reorganization and hopeful of recovery in the next 4-6 months.” With such vague representations, one is left with the distinct impression that- Royle did not face its allegedly debilitating "financial setbacks” until the end of the discovery period, if not after discovery had already closed.

. Again, given the absence of specificity, the motion leaves one with the impression that Appellees had thus far conducted little discovery. In fact, the parties’ briefs to this Court indicate that Appellees waited over a year after the entry of the scheduling order to serve written discovery on Appellant Shincor Silicones, Inc.

. The comments to Rule 206.1 of the Philadelphia Local Rules of Civil Procedure direct litigants to the court publication "Civil Trial Division Administration, at a Glance” for procedures relative to motions for extraordinary relief. The year 2000 version of that publication reiterates that any extraordinary relief petition "must be filed prior to the deadline that the party is seeking to change.” Civil Administration 2000, at 130. Furthermore, it warns:
Counsel who do little work on the case in timely fashion but nevertheless request extensions of court ordered deadlines are unlikely to receive them. Counsel are expected to demonstrate regular and timely efforts to complete discovery and make a record of requests and/or motions to compel production of answers to interrogatories, documents, depositions, etc.
Generally speaking, the movant is expected to demonstrate extraordinary and nonforeseeable circumstances justifying the deadline extension request.
Id. at 132. Finally, it states that "requests for extensions of court ordered deadlines should be avoided and utilized only as a last resort and with compelling reasons offered in support thereof." Id. at 133.

. As stated above, before precluding expert testimony under Rule 4003.5(b), a Court need only consider whether “extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the defaulting party” caused the delay in the expert disclosure. Pa.R.Civ.P. 4003.5. As Appellees could not establish their entitlement to an extension of the discovery and expert deadlines here, there were clearly no such "extenuating circumstances” excusing their failure to produce expert reports in a timely fashion.