Episode 46 - Lessons from the Front Lines: What to Do When Your Opponent Notices Their Experts for Deposition Before You Do

Your opponent just served its expert disclosures and reports. You then get a deposition notice - they're going to immediately depose their own experts! And since these depositions may be used at trial - experts often meet the test of unavailability - you might be forced to conduct your trial cross-examination prematurely, before you've had a chance to conduct discovery depositions of them. What now? In this episode, Jim Garrity spotlights a June 15, 2021 court ruling in which a federal judge confronted this very situation. The defendant complained the tactic was unfair and thwarted the principles of discovery. The plaintiff disagreed, saying discovery can be conducted in any order, and nothing prevented them from deposing their own experts first. Learn what the judge thought, and listen to Garrity's tips on how to deal with the situation if it arises in one of your cases.

The case in the spotlight is Rebecca Martinez v. Coloplast Corp, et al., 2021 WL 2432156 (N.D. Ind. June 15, 2021).