Martinez

In this case the trial court prevented plaintiff’s traffic expert from offering any testimony about reconstruction of the accident in which plaintiff was injured. We reverse because there is no dispute the expert was qualified to give reconstruction testimony and the record discloses the expert’s identity was disclosed, along with a description of his proposed testimony, within the time required by Code of Civil Procedure section 2034. In particular we reject the defendants’ contention the exclusion sanction provided by section 2034, subdivision (j), may be employed where, although the description of the expert’s proposed testimony is inaccurate or inadequate, a timely disclosure of an expert’s identity has been made.

Legal Issue

Our usual practice is to set forth the factual and procedural history of a case before confronting the legal issues raised on appeal. However, in this instance we believe it will be more helpful in understanding the material portions of the record to initially describe the legal issue which largely governs our disposition.

We begin our analysis by recognizing the exchange of information about expert witnesses is a critical event in the course…