23 N.Y.3d 592, 992 N.Y.S.2d 190 [2014]
Disclosure rules in the CPLR and the Uniform Rules for the Trial Courts require disclosure of medical reports accompanying defense physical examinations. (CPLR 3121, 22 NYCRR 202.17) Plaintiffs sometimes balk at the production of reports, claiming that they have not yet retained physicians to testify at trial, and therefore have no reports to produce. Defendants, of course, respond that they cannot reasonably be required to retain examining physicians if they don’t know what they are supposed to look for. The Court of Appeals here considered this problem.
At first blush, the decision favors the plaintiffs’ argument. Closer examination shows that the Court’s interpretation of the rules still places a substantial burden on plaintiffs. The limits of this burden remain to be worked out.
Before the Court were two lead-paint-poisoning cases, and the question in each was whether the plaintiffs could be compelled to produce medical reports detailing each injury claimed by the plaintiffs and causally relating them to exposure to lead-based paint. The Court of Appeals held that it was an abuse of discretion to compel the plaintiff to produce such reports.
Arguments & Demonstrations 