Expert disclosure rules for medical malpractice cases change in upstate New York.

Big news from Albany, New York in the field of plaintiff’s medical malpractice litigation. The rule has long been in medical malpractice cases that neither side has to identify the name of their medical experts. Recently, the mid-level appellate court covering Albany and twenty-seven other upstate counties changed this one-year-old rule as to expert disclosure. The rule now is that medical parties on both sides in a medical malpractice action will have to identify the qualifications of their medical experts in reasonable detail before trial. So now both sides will input these qualifications into search programs that will identify the opposing expert, even though the opposing side has not provided that name. Exceptions to the rule exist, but may be difficult to meet. The decision is Kanaly v. DeMartino (2018 NY Slip Op 04060 [3rd Dept 06/07/18]). It is important because it will diminish the surprise element in medical malpractice cases in New York and bring New York more in line with the majority of other jurisdictions in the country.


by Patrick J. Higgins
Last updated on - Originally published on

Posted in: Personal Injury Law