Gilbert v. Wessels

Plaintiff filed a health care liability action against Defendant, who performed laser surgery on Plaintiff’s eye. Before trial, Defendant filed a motion seeking a waiver of Tenn. Code Ann. 29-26-115(b)’s contiguous state requirement, which would allow an ophthalmologist from Florida to testify as an expert witness. The trial court denied the motion, finding that Defendant had not established that appropriate witnesses would otherwise be unavailable. The court of appeals granted Defendant a Tenn. R. App. P. 10 extraordinary appeal and concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to waive the contiguous state requirement. The Supreme Court vacated the decision of the court of appeals, holding that the court of appeals improvidently granted Defendant’s application for extraordinary appeal. View "Gilbert v. Wessels" on Justia Law