S-20-0253 Gonzales v. Nebraska Pediatric Practice, Inc.
Douglas County District Court, Hon. James T. Gleason
Attorneys: Greg Garland (Garland MedMal, LLC), Kathy Pate Knickrehm, and Tara DeCamp (DeCamp Law, PC LLO), for Appellants – Patrick G. Vipond, Sarah M. Dempsey, Michael L. Storey (Lamson Dugan & Murray, LLP, for Appellees)
Civil: Medical malpractice; Negligence
Proceedings below: The trial court overruled the Plaintiff/Appellant’s motion to strike the Defendant/Appellees’ expert witness and entered the Defendants’ request for a second amended scheduling order, which allowed the Defendants’ to identify an additional expert, who was permitted to testify in support of the Defendants’ second Daubert/Schafersman motion to strike the testimony of the Plaintiffs’ expert. Following the hearing on the Defendants’ second Daubert/Schafersman motion to strike the testimony of the Plaintiffs’ expert, and the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the trial court overruled the Plaintiffs’ objection to live video testimony of the Defendants’ expert; overruled Plaintiffs’ motion to strike the testimony of the Defendants’ experts and objection to admission of various publications; struck the testimony of the Plaintiffs’ expert; and granted the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
Issue on Appeal: Appellants assign the following errors (renumbered and restated): Whether the trial court erred in 1) allowing the Defendants to amend the scheduling order to permit them to identify an additional expert to testify in support of a second Daubert/Schafersman challenge to the Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Todd Lawrence to address issues previously determined by the Court of Appeals in its opinion regarding the first appeal of this case; 2) in overruling the Plaintiffs' motion to strike the Defendants' expert, Dr. Bonthius; 3) striking the testimony of Dr. Lawrence; 4) overruling the Plaintiffs' objections to the affidavits of Drs. Chatterjee and Pavkovic and the publications offered by the Defendants; 5) granting the Defendants' motion for summary judgment; 6) allowing the testimony of the Defendants' experts and in overruling the Plaintiffs' objection to the video link testimony by the Defendants' expert; 7) granting the Defendants' motion for order nunc pro tunc and motion to amend the bill of exceptions to add the second affidavit of Sarah M. Dempsey; and 8) granting the Defendants' motion for summary judgment.