Ager v. Jane C. Stormont Hospital & Training School for Nurses case brief

Ager v. Jane C. Stormont Hospital & Training School for Nurses
622 F.2d 496 (1980)

Facts: The Defendant, through interrogatories, wants to know the identities of all experts that the plaintiff consulted for the trial.
-The plaintiff gave some objections, but finally agreed to give the names of only those experts who were expected to testify at trial.
-The plaintiff refused, however, to give the identities of experts who were not expected to testify at trial.

Procedure:
-The plaintiff was held in contempt for failing to comply with the discovery orders.

Issue:
Can a party discover the identities of experts the other side consulted even if these experts are not expected to testify at trial?

Holding:
No, however there are very rare exceptions to this rule.

Analysis:
Under FRCP 26, discovery of experts who were informally consulted but will not be testifying at trial is not allowed. The court considered public policy reasons for this prohibition.
-The court stated that revealing the identities of experts will prevent experts from giving their free opinions on the matters.
-The court, however, stated that there will be some cases where identities of experts who are not expected to testify may be discovered. This requires that there be a case-by-case analysis.

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