Opotzner v. Bass

In Opotzner v. Bass, 63 Conn. App. 555, 777 A.2d 718, cert. denied, 257 Conn. 910, 782 A.2d 134 (2001), cert. denied, 259 Conn. 930, 793 A.2d 1086 (2002), the plaintiffs claimed on appeal that the trial court had abused its discretion by redacting portions of a medical report, prepared by a previously disclosed expert witness. Opotzner v. Bass, supra, 63 Conn. App. 566-67. Prior to trial, the plaintiffs disclosed that the medical expert would testify concerning pain and joint injuries relative to the motor vehicle collision at issue. Id., 567. On the eve of trial, the plaintiffs disclosed that they would seek to introduce the recently produced report by the medical expert to include evidence of traumatic brain injury and depression. Id. The defendant lessor of one of the vehicles involved in the collision filed a motion in limine, arguing that it would be prejudiced by the report because it would not have had an opportunity to depose the expert or to subject the expert to cross-examination. Id. The court denied the motion and admitted the report. Id., 567-68. The court, however, redacted those portions of the report in which the expert offered his opinion. Id., 568. That is, the court permitted the admission of only facts contained in the report. On appeal, we concluded that the court had not abused its discretion by admitting facts offered by the expert, but not his opinions. Id., 569.