{"id":890767,"date":"2016-08-23T10:46:45","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T16:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=890767"},"modified":"2016-08-23T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T16:46:45","slug":"materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"Materials “Considered” by Construction Expert Are Off Limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katharine Kohm | The Dispute Resolver<\/a> | August 18, 2016<\/p>\n

The Rhode Island Supreme Court, in\u00a0Cashman Equipment Corporation, Inc. v. Cardi Corporation, Inc. interpreted Rule 26 of the R.I. Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure to hold\u00a0that the Plaintiff subcontractor could not discover all materials that\u00a0the Defendant general contractor’s testifying expert<\/a>\u00a0considered when formulating his opinions.<\/p>\n

The underlying matter concerned work on a bridge that spans\u00a0the Sakonnet River in eastern Rhode Island. \u00a0Plaintiff\u00a0served as the bridge foundation subcontractor\u00a0on the project. Plaintiff alleged that it incurred additional costs\u00a0because the Defendant general contractor issued\u00a0a defectively designed\u00a0cofferdam and materials to Plaintiff.\u00a0 Defendant disagreed and tapped an engineering expert\u00a0who opined that cofferdam design was not defective.\u00a0 Plaintiff sought to investigate the underpinnings of that opinion and requested “all materials and documents, less core attorney work product, including all computer models and drafts of materials and documents, developed and considered by [Defendant’s] testifying expert . . . in the process of formulating his written expert opinions.\u201d\u00a0 Defendant refused to produce the\u00a0drafts of its expert’s\u00a0models and documents.\u00a0 Plaintiff retorted with a motion to compel that these materials “considered” by the expert were within the scope of Rule 26, were discoverable, and were necessary\u00a0to “assure effective cross-examination of testifying experts<\/a>.” The Superior Court disagreed and denied the motion to compel.<\/p>\n

On writ of certiorari on the interlocutory issue, the Supreme Court started with the section of Rule 26 that embraces expert discovery:
\nA party may through interrogatories require any other party to identify each person whom the other party expects to call as an expert witness at trial<\/u>, to state the subject matter<\/u> on which the expert is expected to testify, and to state the substance of the facts and opinions<\/u> to which the expert is expected to testify and a summary of the grounds for each opinion. A party may depose any person who has been identified as an expert expected to testify<\/u> when the expert interrogatory has been responded to by the other party.<\/p>\n

Rule 26(b)(4)(A) of the R.I. Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure.\u00a0 With a nod to the reasonableness of the Plaintiff’s request, but constrained by this plain language in the rule, the Court concluded that\u00a0investigation of experts\u00a0“is confined by its very terms to discovery through interrogatories or deposition.” As a result, Plaintiff was not entitled to review Defendant’s expert’s documents considered.\u00a0 The Court went on to hint that a rule change may be in order.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0reaching this decision, the Supreme Court observed that\u00a0Rhode Island’s current Rule 26 diverges from the current Federal Rule, which does require a party to disclose a testifying expert witness’s report<\/a> along with, inter alia<\/u>, “the data or other information considered by the witness in forming the opinions.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katharine Kohm | The Dispute Resolver | August 18, 2016 The Rhode Island Supreme Court, in\u00a0Cashman Equipment Corporation, Inc. v. Cardi Corporation, Inc. interpreted Rule 26 of the R.I. Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure to hold\u00a0that the Plaintiff subcontractor could not discover all materials that\u00a0the Defendant general contractor’s testifying expert\u00a0considered when formulating his opinions.… Continue reading Materials “Considered” by Construction Expert Are Off Limits<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[9786,9784,17,9787,9785],"class_list":["post-890767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expert-witness","tag-cashman-equipment-corporation","tag-construction-expert","tag-expert-witness-2","tag-inc-v-cardi-corporation","tag-rhode-island","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaterials "Considered" by Construction Expert Are Off Limits - Advise & Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rule 26 held that the Plaintiff sub could not discover all materials that the Defendant G.C. testifying expert considered when formulating his opinions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Materials "Considered" by Construction Expert Are Off Limits - Advise & Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rule 26 held that the Plaintiff sub could not discover all materials that the Defendant G.C. testifying expert considered when formulating his opinions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise & Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-23T16:46:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Materials “Considered” by Construction Expert Are Off Limits\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-23T16:46:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/materials-considered-by-construction-expert-are-off-limits\/\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Cashman Equipment Corporation\",\"Construction Expert\",\"expert witness\",\"Inc. v. 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