§ 2034.720.Scope of judicial authority to grant tardy filing of list; satisfaction of certain conditions

Section 2034.710 gives a court discretion to let a party fix a missed expert-disclosure deadline. This section narrows that discretion into a checklist, and every item on it has to be satisfied before the court may grant leave. The court has to weigh how much the opposing party relied on the absence of an expert list in shaping its own trial preparation, and it has to find that the party opposing the motion will not be prejudiced in maintaining its claims or defenses on the merits if the late information comes in.

Beyond that balancing, the court has to find that the moving party itself behaved reasonably: the failure to submit on time resulted from mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, not strategy or neglect of a different kind; the moving party sought leave promptly once it discovered the problem; and it promptly served the proposed expert witness information on every other party who has appeared in the case. Even when all of that lines up, the resulting order comes with strings attached. The court has to condition relief on making the expert available right away for deposition, and it may add further terms that are just, letting the opposing side designate its own additional experts, elicit more opinions from experts already named, get a continuance, or recover its costs and litigation expenses.