Ramaco Resources, LLC v. Federal Insurance Company and Ace American Insurance Company

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia denied Ramaco Resources, LLC’s Motion in Limine No. 7. The court held that Federal Insurance Company’s experts could discuss certain later-produced documents, including the 2019 budget and KeyBank emails, so long as the testimony did not introduce additional analysis or new opinions.

Holdings

1. Federal's experts may discuss the 2019 Budget because any failure to disclose reliance on it was harmless under the applicable Rule 37(c)(1) analysis.
2. Federal's expert may discuss the KeyBank emails because the delayed disclosure appeared substantially justified and harmless, provided the testimony does not introduce additional analysis or new opinions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Federal's experts should be barred from referring at trial to documents produced after their expert reports because Federal allegedly failed to supplement their expert reliance lists under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a).
2. Whether the alleged nondisclosure was substantially justified or harmless under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1) and the five-factor test governing exclusion of undisclosed evidence.

Disposition

other