F.A. GOSSETT, Magistrate Judge.
Defendant Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut ("Travelers") has moved to strike the testimony of Plaintiff's expert witness, David Oelkers ("Oelkers"). Travelers maintains that Oelkers's testimony should be excluded because Plaintiff failed to file an expert disclosure complying with the requirements of
The Court's scheduling order set the deadline for the disclosure of expert witnesses for December 15, 2013. (
On February 14, 2014, Plaintiff filed a supplemental designation of experts. The supplemental designation contained a summary of how Plaintiff expected each of its experts to testimony. However, Plaintiff did not provide any signed, written reports containing a statement of any expert's opinion.
On March 4, 2014, as well as on March 20, 2014, counsel for Travelers contacted counsel for Plaintiff to ask for further supplementation of Plaintiff's disclosures. Plaintiff agreed to again supplement its disclosures on or before April 4, 2014. The parties also stipulated that Defendants' deadline to disclose their experts would be continued until May 16, 2014.
Plaintiff again supplemented its disclosures on or about April 4, 2014. In its supplement, Plaintiff provided Oelkers's curriculum vitae and an unsigned spreadsheet. At that time, Plaintiff represented that Oelkers relied upon bookkeeping records and income tax returns to formulate his opinion. Plaintiff also made the following statement regarding Oelkers's testimony:
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On April 8, 2014, Travelers and American filed their respective motions to strike. Subsequent to the filing of Defendants' motions, a telephone conference occurred between Plaintiff's counsel and defense counsel. Following the call, Plaintiff obtained copies of Plaintiff's 2006 through 2013 tax returns and QuickBooks support documents from Oelkers. Plaintiff then forwarded these items to defense counsel. Plaintiff also filed a second supplemental designation of expert witnesses on April 18, 2014, which incorporated a signed letter from Oelkers, purportedly setting forth Oelkers's expert opinion. (
Defendants seek to strike Plaintiff's designation of expert witnesses for failure to comply with Rule 26(a)(2). Defendants argue that Plaintiff failed to comply with Rule 26's requirements by failing to provide expert opinion reports. Defendants argue that Plaintiff, by failing to timely disclose expert reports, have prejudiced Defendants' ability to effectively evaluate Plaintiff's damage claims and determine what expert testimony, if any, is necessary to refute the testimony of Plaintiff's experts.
With respect to the disclosure of expert witnesses, Rule 26(a)(2)(B) provides:
The Court has carefully considered the matter and has determined that exclusion of Oelkers's testimony is not warranted. Other than stating that its April 4, 2014 supplemental disclosure met the "intent, spirit, and purpose" of Rule 26(a), Plaintiff has not offered substantial justification for its failure to fully comply with the requirements of Rule 26(a). However, Defendants have not been prejudiced by Plaintiff's short-comings. Defendants agreed to give Plaintiff until April 4, 2014, to supplement its expert disclosures. Plaintiff did so by the agreed-upon date. Although Plaintiff's April 4, 2014 supplemental disclosure remained deficient, Plaintiff was able to fully meet the Rule's requirements by April 18, 2014. Given Defendants' consent to the April 4, 2014 deadline, the Court finds the twoweek delay in receiving a satisfactory supplement did not cause Defendants undue prejudice. Moreover, this case is barely a year old, trial is not set to occur until October 21, 2014, and Plaintiff has agreed to an extension of all case progression deadlines should Defendants so desire. The Court cannot find prejudice under the circumstances presented here.
American's motion to exclude the testimony of experts Russell Vering, Rose Vering and Bradly Brown will likewise be denied. American argues that Plaintiff's disclosures with respect to these individuals are deficient because Plaintiff has not provided reports from these experts. Plaintiff has represented to the Court that these experts need not provide expert reports because they have not been specially retained to provide expert testimony in this case. American has not responded to Plaintiff's representation. Therefore, the Court will deem Plaintiff's disclosures with respect to these experts sufficient.
1. Travelers's Motion to Strike (
2. American's Motion to Exclude (