Pernix Ir. Pain Dac v. Alvogen Malta Operations Ltd.
Pernix Ir. Pain Dac v. Alvogen Malta Operations Ltd.
Opinion of the Court
In this order, the Court addresses a dispute between the parties over the admissibility of certain exhibits that the plaintiffs (collectively, "Pernix") intend to offer at trial. Defendant Alvogen Malta Operations Ltd. ("Alvogen") contends that the materials are inadmissible as hearsay. Pernix argues that the materials in dispute are non-hearsay and can be used to cross-examine Alvogen's witnesses.
A. The Admissibility of Alvogen's Expert Witness Reports Against Alvogen
The principal issue before the Court involves the admissibility of five exhibits (PTX 84, 85, 89, 133, and 134) proffered by Pernix. Those exhibits consist of reports by two experts who were retained by a related Alvogen entity in connection with another case. That case, Purdue Pharma L.P. et al. v. Alvogen Pine Brook LLC, Civil Action No. 15-687 (referred to as "the Hysingla litigation"), recently settled, quite literally, on the eve of trial. Pernix seeks to use Alvogen's experts' reports to challenge Alvogen's claim that
Three of the exhibits in question are reports prepared by Alvogen expert Michael Mayersohn for the Hysingla litigation. To begin with, it is clear that statements by Dr. Mayersohn in those reports may be used to impeach Dr. Mayersohn if he testifies in this case in a manner that is inconsistent with any of the statements he made in the reports he prepared for the Hysingla litigation. That much is not in dispute. See Fed. R. Evid. 613.
What is in dispute is whether the expert reports of Dr. Mayersohn and another of Alvogen's experts, Fernando Muzzio, in the Hysingla litigation are admissible as substantive evidence over a hearsay objection. Pernix's argument is that those statements are non-hearsay statements of an opposing party and are admissible under *819Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2). Alvogen contends that the statements do not satisfy the requirements of any of the categories of party admissions that are covered by that Rule. The Court agrees with Alvogen.
Rule 801(d) defines certain statements as non-hearsay. The second subsection of that rule, Rule 801(d)(2), lists five types of statements that are attributable to an opposing party and are admissible if offered in evidence against the opposing party. Only three of the five are arguably pertinent here. Rule 801(d)(2)(B) refers to a statement that "is one the party manifested that it adopted or believed to be true." Rule 801(d)(2)(C) refers to a statement that "was made by a person whom the party authorized to make a statement on the subject." And Rule 801(d)(2)(D) refers to a statement that "was made by the party's agent or employee on a matter within the scope of that relationship and while it existed."
There is substantial case law dealing with the admissibility under Rule 801(d)(2) of the testimony, depositions, or reports of an expert against the party that retained the expert. The case law on this subject is mixed, however, with courts reaching different results under a variety of different factual circumstances.
1. Admissibility Under Rules 801(d)(2)(C) and (D)
The leading Third Circuit case in this area, Kirk v. Raymark Industries, Inc.,
In theory, despite the fact that one party retained and paid for the services of an expert witness, expert witnesses are supposed to testify impartially in the sphere of their expertise. Thus, one can call an expert witness even if one disagrees with the testimony of the expert. Rule 801(d)(2)(C) requires that the declarant be an agent of the party-opponent against whom the admission is offered, and this precludes the admission of the prior testimony of an expert witness where, as normally will be the case, the expert has not agreed to be subject to the client's control in giving his or her testimony. Since an expert witness is not subject to the control of the party opponent with respect to consultation and testimony he or she is hired to give, the expert witness cannot be deemed an agent....
Because an expert witness is charged with the duty of giving his or her expert opinion regarding the matter before the court, we fail to comprehend how an *820expert witness, who is not an agent of the party who called him, can be authorized to make an admission for that party.
A number of cases have followed Kirk in applying Rules 801(d)(2)(C) and (D), including several from this district. See, e.g., AVM Techs., LLC v. Intel Corp., Civil Action No. 15-33,
*821While, as indicated, there are numerous authorities holding that out-of-court statements in the form of expert testimony, expert depositions, and expert reports are not admissible under Rule 801(d)(2)(C) or (D), there are also many cases holding to the contrary. The leading cases holding that an expert's prior testimony, deposition, or report is admissible as non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2)(C) are Collins v. Wayne Corp.,
In the Hanford Nuclear Reservation case, the plaintiff had called an expert, F. Owen Hoffman, in an earlier bellwether trial, where he testified about causation. When the defendants sought to cross-examine Dr. Hoffman regarding his testimony on that subject at the earlier trial, the plaintiff objected. The Ninth Circuit held that "Dr. Hoffman's testimony at the first bellwether trial was an admission of a party opponent under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(C). Plaintiff cannot now exclude trial testimony that she, herself, *822proffered."
A number of district courts have followed those decisions in varying circumstances. Most of the cases that have held the evidence admissible have done so under Rule 801(d)(2)(C), finding that the expert was a person authorized to make a statement on the subject by the party that retained him, or under Rule 801(d)(2)(D), finding either expressly or by implication that that the expert was an agent or employee of the party that retained him. See North Star Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. CNH Am. LLC, Civil No. 11-4133,
The most important case for present purposes is the Third Circuit's decision in Kirk. Because the issue of the admissibility of experts' reports as non-hearsay party admissions is an issue that is not unique to patent law, Third Circuit law-not Federal Circuit law-governs the inquiry. See Info-Hold, Inc. v. Muzak LLC,
As noted, although Kirk by its terms is limited to Rule 801(d)(2)(C), the rationale underlying the decision is clearly broad enough to require that the same analysis apply to Rule 801(d)(2)(D). The case specifically holds that a retained expert is not an agent of the party that retained him, and the language of the opinion is broad: "We are unwilling to adopt the proposition that the testimony of an expert witness who is called to testify on behalf of a party in one case can later be used against that same party in unrelated litigation, unless there is a finding that the expert witness is an agent of the party and is authorized to speak on behalf of that party." Kirk,
Therefore, under the analysis employed by the Third Circuit in Kirk, this Court concludes that neither Dr. Muzzio nor Dr. Mayersohn is (or was at the time they prepared their reports in the Hysingla litigation) an "agent or employee" of Alvogen. Although Alvogen has retained them, their role is to serve as independent experts, and there is no evidentiary basis from which to conclude that either of them is an agent or employee of Alvogen, such that any statement made by the experts within the scope of their employment or agency should be attributable to the principal, Alvogen. The Court regards the Kirk case as dispositive in holding that experts in a case such as this one will ordinarily not be deemed to be agents or employees of the party that retained them, and ordinarily will not be deemed authorized to make statements on behalf of the party that retained them as to the subject matter of their testimony. The Court therefore rejects Pernix's argument that the Muzzio and Mayersohn reports from the Hysingla litigation are admissible in this case as substantive evidence under Rules 801(d)(2)(C) or 801(d)(2)(D).
2. Admissibility Under Rule 801(d)(2)(B)
A more difficult question is whether the statements by Drs. Muzzio and Mayersohn are admissible under Rule 801(d)(2)(B), which applies to "adoptive admissions," i.e., statements that the party manifested that it adopted or believed to be true. The issue with respect to Rule 801(d)(2)(B) is whether the party has taken any action that indicates that it has adopted some or all of the statements in the experts' reports.
A number of cases have addressed the issue of the admissibility under Rule 801(d)(2)(B) of prior statements by experts, such as testimony or reports filed in other cases on behalf of the party against which they are offered. The Kirk decision does not address that issue, and cases applying Rule 801(d)(2)(B) have admitted the experts' statements under various factual scenarios indicative of the party's adoption of the expert's statements. See Auto-Dril, Inc. v. Nat'l Oilwell Varco, LP, Civil Action No. H-16-280,
The rationale underlying Rule 801(d)(2)(B) results in a much more restrictive scope for adoptive admissions than, for example, for admissions based on the agency of Rule 801(d)(2)(C). A statement is admissible as an adoptive admission only if the party against whom the statement is offered has specifically adopted that statement as its own. Thus, in the case of expert witnesses, admissibility under Rule 801(d)(2)(B) depends on a finding that the party has specifically adopted each statement at issue made by the expert, rather than treating as admissible any statement made by the witness within the scope of his agency. The rule that the Court derives from the cases construing Rule 801(d)(2)(B), as applied to statements of a party's expert witness that are offered as adoptive admissions of the retaining party, is this: The expert's statements, whether in the form of a deposition, an expert report, or testimony in another proceeding, will be regarded as an adoptive admission and thus not hearsay as to the retaining party if the circumstances in which the statement is made, used, or proposed to be used indicate that the party supports the statement as representing its position. For example, if the party has called the expert as a witness, in the same or another proceeding, to prove a particular *825fact and the witness has so testified, the party will be held to have adopted the expert's testimony on that point as an admission. See Fox v. Taylor Diving & Salvage Co.,
The approach suggested by the McCormick treatise on evidence is a balanced one that rationalizes the approach suggested by most of the cases that have addressed varying fact patterns regarding the admissibility of expert witness statements under Rule 801(d)(2)(B). As McCormick explains, "circumstances may justify the conclusion that, when the proponent placed the witness on the stand to prove a particular fact and the witness so testified, the party has created an adoptive admission of the fact that may be admitted in a later suit.... [I]t would seem that a practical working rule would admit against the proponent the direct testimony of its own witness as presumptively elicited to prove the facts stated, in the absence of counter proof that the testimony came as a surprise to the interrogator or was repudiated in the course of argument." 2 Kenneth S. Broun, McCormick on Evidence § 261, at 303-04 (7th ed. 2013). On the other hand, McCormick adds that "[i]n general, the opinion of an expert who was not called as a witness should not constitute an admission of the party that sought the opinion."
In this case, Alvogen submitted the reports of Drs. Muzzio and Mayersohn in the Hysingla litigation and included them on its list of witnesses in the joint pre-trial order. See Pharma L.P. et al. v. Alvogen Pine Brook LLC, Civil Action No. 15-687, Dkt. No. 357-5 (D. Del. Apr. 12, 2018). Because of the settlement of that litigation, they did not testify in the Hysingla case. As a result, it is not clear to the Court what portions of their expert reports would have become the subject matter of their trial testimony. The joint pretrial order, which provides a brief summary of the proposed witness testimony for each party's witnesses, does not provide sufficient detail for the Court to conclude that particular parts of the Muzzio and Mayersohn expert reports would have been replicated in their trial testimony. See id. at 13-14, 16-17.
The burden is on Pernix to lay a foundation for the admission of the Muzzio and Mayersohn expert reports by laying a foundation to show that the statements that it wishes to introduce are non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2)(B). Lippay v. Christos,
B. The Impeachment of Dr. Mayersohn with Dr. Muzzio's Report
Pernix additionally submits that it should be allowed to use statements from Dr. Muzzio's report in the Hysingla litigation during its cross-examination of Alvogen's witnesses, including Dr. Mayersohn.
Pernix's position is contrary to the principle that, if statements by a declarant are inadmissible as hearsay, those statements cannot be used to cross-examine a different witness at trial. See United States v. Hassan,
Perhaps the best statement of this rule was provided by the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Bao,
A prior inconsistent statement is admissible to raise the suggestion that if a witness makes inconsistent statements, then his entire testimony may not be credible; such an inference does not depend on whether either the prior statement or the subsequent in-court statement is true. Therefore, because a declarant's prior inconsistent statement is not offered for its truth, it is not hearsay.
It is an entirely different matter to offer one declarant's statement to impeach the credibility of another witness. Merely offering a contradictory account offered by one witness does not go to another witness's credibility unless the first witness's account is offered as true. Only the declarant of the prior inconsistent statement, and not another witness, may be impeached with the statement.
As Alvogen points out in its supplemental brief, that principle applies *827equally to expert witnesses. Thus, a party is not allowed to impeach an opposing party's expert witness with hearsay statements from another expert witness (unless the party can show that the witness relied on those statements in forming his opinion). See Ochoa-Valenzuela v. Ford Motor Co.,
Pernix does not cite or discuss any of this authority. Instead, Pernix cites three cases for the proposition that the Muzzio report from the Hysingla litigation can be used to impeach Alvogen's expert witnesses. The cases cited by Pernix, however, do not even remotely support that position. Indeed, Pernix's cases do not address the hearsay problem at all. Two of Pernix's cases do not involve the introduction of out-of-court statements, and the third involves the use of a document for what is plainly a non-hearsay purpose.
First, citing Simmons, Inc. v. Pinkerton's, Inc.,
Second, Pernix cites Morgan v. Covington Township,
Finally, Pernix cites a passage from the district court opinion in Matthiews v. Crosby Tugs, LLC, No. CV 15-5985,
Pernix's reliance on Matthiews is far wide of the mark. To begin with, although the district court in Matthiews made clear that the adjuster's documents were not being used to prove the truth of any assertion found in them-and thus the documents were not offered for a hearsay purpose-Pernix cites the case for the proposition that "extrinsic evidence can be used to impeach a witness by contradiction even if it contains hearsay." Dkt. No. 233, at 6. Beyond that, there is no equivalence between the evidence in Matthiews and the evidence at issue in this case. While the evidence in Matthiews was relevant without regard to the truth of anything stated in the adjuster's documents, the statements in Dr. Muzzio's expert reports would be relevant only if the statements in those reports were taken as true. That is, they would they serve the purpose of contradiction for which they are being offered only if they were taken as true. If not for their hearsay use, the reports would be irrelevant. Thus, the reports at issue are clearly being offered for a hearsay purpose and are inadmissible.
The Court therefore rules that Dr. Muzzio's statements cannot be used, either as substantive evidence or for impeachment of other witnesses at trial.
C. Conclusion
Based on the supplemental briefing in which the Court gave Pernix the opportunity make the showing necessary to satisfy its burden to show that the Muzzio and Mayersohn expert reports from the Hysingla litigation are admissible over a hearsay objection or can be used for impeachment purposes at trial, the Court concludes that those reports are not admissible or usable for impeachment. Accordingly, the five exhibits at issue-PTX 84, 85, 89, 133, and 134-will not be admitted at trial. Dr. Mayersohn's report may be used to impeach Dr. Mayersohn to the extent that his testimony at trial is inconsistent with his prior statements.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
During a telephonic conference on this matter, the Court raised the question whether the different identities of the Alvogen entities in this case and in the Hysingla litigation rendered the analysis under Rule 801(d)(2) inapplicable. The defendant in this case is Alvogen Malta Operations Ltd., while the defendant in the Hysingla litigation was Alvogen Pine Brook LLC. Based on information provided in the supplemental briefs, it appears that Alvogen Pine Brook LLC and Alvogen Malta Operations Ltd. were previously sister corporations, and at some time between 2016 and 2018, Alvogen Malta became the parent of Alvogen Pine Brook. Pernix argues that the separate nature of the corporate entities is "inconsequential" because Alvogen Pine Brook is listed as the agent of Alvogen Malta in the FDA submissions that underlie this litigation. In light of the Court's decision to preclude Pernix from introducing the expert reports from the Hysingla litigation as substantive evidence in this case, it is not necessary for the Court to resolve the question regarding whether the separate corporate status of the two Alvogen entities defeats Pernix's argument under Rule 801(d)(2).
Although in theory expert witnesses are independent actors and not agents of the party that retained them, the Court recognizes that in reality expert witnesses are typically aligned with the retaining party, at least by the time the retaining party presents the expert's views during pretrial and trial proceedings. As was well stated by Chancellor Chandler of the Delaware Court of Chancery in ONTI, Inc. v. Integra Bank, No. Civ. A. 14514,
[I]t seems intellectually dishonest for a court to fail to recognize that experts are more often than not hired hands, brought in by a party in order to propose the truth as that party sees it, or authorized by that party to represent the experts' own opinions as they conform to the party's position. While in theory an expert is meant to testify impartially as to his opinion, the fact that a party has control over whether or not to introduce the expert and testimony supported by him, and the fact that the party has the right to choose the expert in the first place, certainly adds credence to the theory that an agency relationship exists between the expert and his supporting party. Given that dynamic, it is unclear why a statement made by an expert in the course of his testifying on behalf of a party, which is adverse to that party, should not be admissible against that party.
See also Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Abbott Labs., Civil Nos. 02-1512,
Cases involving expert witnesses who were retained for purpose of litigation have been distinguished from cases involving experts who were retained to investigate a matter and whose conclusions are adopted, expressly or implicitly, by the retaining party apart from litigation. The reports in the latter type of case have been admitted against the retaining party in subsequent litigation. See, e.g., Wright-Simmons v. City of Oklahoma City,
Of course, if facts are developed that suggest that, contrary to the ordinary situation contemplated by the court in Kirk, Drs. Muzzio or Mayersohn should be regarded as agents of Alvogen or authorized to speak on behalf of Alvogen, the Court would be prepared to revisit the admissibility of their reports under Rules 801(d)(2)(C) or (D).
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 32 provides an avenue to admit deposition testimony that would otherwise be hearsay where, inter alia, the party against which it is used was present or represented at the taking of the deposition. See Novozymes A/S v. Genencor Int'l, Inc., No. CIV.A. 05-160,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PERNIX IRELAND PAIN DAC and Pernix Therapeutics, LLC v. ALVOGEN MALTA OPERATIONS LTD.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published