§ 128.053.Expert Report

The gate, and it is the medical liability expert report transplanted with the deadlines changed.

Not later than the 90th day after the original petition was filed, a claimant shall serve on each party one or more expert reports with a curriculum vitae for each expert, for each defendant against whom a claim is asserted. The date may be extended by written agreement.

Objections have their own clock: a defendant whose conduct is implicated must file and serve any objection to the sufficiency of the report not later than the 21st day after service, or all objections are waived.

Subsection (b) is the sanction, and it is mandatory in both parts: on the defendant’s motion the court shall enter an order awarding attorney’s fees and costs and dismissing the claim with prejudice.

Subsection (c) supplies the only relief: where the report was served but elements are found deficient, the court may grant one extension of not more than 30 days to cure. There is no extension for having served nothing.

The subsection also handles late notice of the ruling — the 30 days runs from when the plaintiff first receives it.

Subsection (d) permits multiple reports, and says expressly that no single expert must address all liability and causation issues for all defendants.

Subsection (e) sets the adequacy standard, and it is deferential: a challenge is granted only if the report does not represent an objective, good faith effort to comply.

Subsection (f) stays all discovery until the report is served, allowing the claimants collectively no more than two depositions beforehand — which is the practical difficulty, since the information needed for the report often sits with the range.