Collins

In this personal injury case, plaintiff William F. Collins was represented by the Law Offices of Joseph W. Carcione, Jr. One of the lawyers from Carcione’s firm, Steve Purtill, hired Carl C. Clark, Ph.D., as an expert witness on the subject matter of windshields. Unbeknownst to Purtill, a year earlier, counsel for two defendants hired Dr. Clark as a consultant for his clients on the same subject matter. After Purtill disclosed Dr. Clark as a retained expert witness, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion to disqualify Collins’s counsel. Collins and his wife, Barbara, appeal this order and the subsequent order denying their motion for reconsideration.

Disqualification of opposing counsel is authorized by the court’s power to control the ministerial officers before it and may be justified to protect an opposing party from the unfair use of confidential information against that party. Here, however, disqualification of the Carcione law firm was unwarranted. That firm had no notice of Dr. Clark’s dual status until defense counsel raised the issue because Dr. Clark never disclosed his dual retention. Further, the Carcione firm ceased all direct contact with Dr. Clark…