Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. v. Bessard
Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. v. Bessard
Opinion of the Court
RULING
Now pending before the undersigned Magistrate Judge is the motion of petitioner, Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. (“Mallard”) seeking appointment of a medical expert under Rule 706(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Having considered the petitioner’s memoranda as well as the opposition thereto, I now enter the following ruling.
All of the physicians involved are well qualified to offer an opinion regarding the significance of the MRI test results, and all are within the subpoena jurisdiction of this Court, and thus, should be available to testify at trial to explain their divergent opinions. The appointment by this Court of yet another expert is not likely to enlighten or enhance the ability of the Court to determine the pending issue. While appointment of an expert by the Court would ultimately add an additional witness to one side or the other, it is axiomatic that weight of the evidence is not to be determined by the number of witnesses that testify. Where as here, the experts retained by the parties are well qualified and capable of presenting sufficient information to permit a just resolution of the pending issue, appointment of yet another expert is not warranted.
For all of the foregoing reasons, the petitioner’s motion for a court-appointed medical expert is DENIED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MALLARD BAY DRILLING, INC. v. Gibson BESSARD
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published