Stony Brook I Homeowners Ass'n v. Superior Court

The petitioners in this extraordinary proceeding are an orthopedic specialist and a homeowners association which retained the specialist to evaluate plaintiffs’ alleged injuries. In a number of prior proceedings in which he had testified as an expert, the specialist had been unwilling to provide any estimate of the percentage of his forensic cases in which he was retained by defendants and the percentage of forensic cases in which he was retained by plaintiffs. Prior to his deposition the trial court ordered that the specialist produce a summary showing his total compensation for defense work and total compensation for plaintiffs work over the last four years. Because the specialist found that producing such a summary would consume over 90 hours of labor from his staff and significantly disrupt his practice, the trial court further ordered that the specialist provide access to his patient files to temporary personnel who would compile the information needed for the summary.

We grant the specialist’s and homeowners association’s petition for relief from the trial court’s orders. Although an expert must provide such information about his role in prior proceedings as will…