Ezekiel McCarthy, et al. v. Jett Trucking LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana grants Plaintiffs' motion for leave to disclose Richard Ruth, P.E., as a rebuttal expert in a motor-vehicle accident case. The Court finds excusable neglect under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(B) and reopens discovery for the limited purposes of producing Ruth's file and allowing Defendant to depose him, while declining to continue the trial.

Holdings

1. Plaintiffs established excusable neglect because their decision not to obtain a rebuttal report before the deadline was reasonable in light of the basis stated in Dr. Metzler's report, and the need for rebuttal became apparent only after her deposition expanded the stated basis for her opinion.
2. The motion could be granted without undue prejudice because the court reopened discovery for the limited purpose of allowing Defendant to obtain Plaintiffs' rebuttal expert's file and depose the expert, while preserving the existing trial date.
3. Rule 6(b)(1)(B) was the applicable rule because Plaintiffs sought leave to disclose a rebuttal expert after the designation deadline; alternatively, the result would be the same under Rule 37(c)(1) because the failure was substantially justified or harmless.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiffs demonstrated excusable neglect warranting an extension of the deadline for designating a rebuttal expert under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(B).
2. Whether the requested extension could be granted without undue prejudice to Defendant.

Disposition

other