Wednesday, June 07, 2006

NC Court of Appeals Overturns Medical Board's Suspension of Expert Witness

A state court of appeals has reversed a Florida neurologist's suspension by the North Carolina Medical Board for giving unwelcome testimony in a medical malpractice case. The Charlotte Observer has the story. For the appellate opinion itself, see In re Lustgarten, No. COA05-891 (N.C. Ct. App. June 6, 2006).

Update 6/27/06: The Daily Business Review now has more extended coverage, via law.com, via The Legal Reader.

posted by pn at 9:26 PM  

1 Comments:

Eric writes ...

This is a terrible decision all around. The trial court never should have allowed Dr. Lustgarten to testify about the credibility of another witness, which is the basis for the entire dispute. Now, the NC Medical Board's attempt to discipline Dr. Lustgarten has resulted in a decision that may be used to undermine the long-standing evidentiary rule that a witness cannot comment on the credibility of other witnesses except under limited circumstances. This underscores the idea that it is sometimes better tactically to undermine an expert by showing the jury they are wrong, not by indulging their inflated opinions, IMHO.

1:20 PM  

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Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.