Ronald Menna Jr. explored the recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling regarding reclassifying expert witnesses in the February 2021 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.
The article, “Know Thy Witness” by Pete Sherman, Managing Editor of the ISBA, discusses Dameron v. Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, a case that involved the issue of whether a party can redesignate an expert witness as a non-testifying expert consultant. As a result of this case, the recent ruling clarified expectations regarding witness designation, timing and what information an attorney is required to share with opposing counsel. An important question at hand seemed to be: Does converting the expert back to consultant unfairly surprise the opposing party at trial?
Ron countered that it does not unfairly surprise the opposing party. “If you read between the lines, something happened with the expert, and the plaintiff wanted to keep the physician away from the defense. That is fair if time is on your side and opposing counsel has time to find a rebuttal expert, ” he said.
He further explained that because the redesignation occurred a year before the trial date, “it appears as if the plaintiff did the right thing by redesignating the expert as early as possible to show good faith.”
Read the full article here.
This article has been reprinted with permission of the Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 109 #2, February 2021. Copyright by the Illinois State Bar Association. isba.org
Ronald Menna Jr’s primary areas of practice are civil appeals, commercial litigation and chancery actions, and he represents a wide variety of individuals and corporate clients, as well as banks, corporate fiduciaries, and individuals in guardianship proceedings. He has extensive trial experience in both State and Federal Courts and has successfully argued before the Illinois Appellate Court and the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
February 22, 2021 | News | Share This