On December 10, 2008, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a short order vacating its previously announced changes to Rule 56.01(b)(4) which pertained to discovery of experts.  On June 23, 2008, the Supreme Court adopted new changes to the rule which, among other things, required retained experts to provide a list of every case in which they have testified in the past.  The new rule was an ourtrage to many Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers who were afraid the rule would effectively prevent many experts from agreeing to testify.  This concern was especially directed towards doctors.  Many doctors already refuse to testify in federal court cases which has a similar rule in place.  They state that it is too hard for them to keep track of all of this information and as such, would rather not get involved.  This creates a special hardship for injured persons as they are the ones who are required to prove the injury.  It goes without saying then, if we can't get a good reputable doctor to testify, the case is shut down before we ever get started. 

I do not know how or why this rule came about.  Some have indicated they believe it was pushed through by the defense bar solely to further stifle Plaintiff's cases.  Whatever the truth is, we should all be thankful that the Missouri Supreme Court was willing to take a second look at the rule and ultimately reject it. 

A copy of the new order can be found in our St. Louis Personal Injury Attorney Library.