Suarez v. The Long Island Railroad Company

Background

D&C United produced reports from two proposed experts on June 6, 2025: Dr. James Kipnis, an orthopedic physician, and Stephen N. Emolo, an accident reconstructionist. Gregory Suarez then filed a letter motion seeking to preclude, meaning bar, D&C United from offering either expert’s testimony at trial. Suarez argued that the disclosures did not satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B), which requires certain information about expert witnesses, including a list of cases in which the witness testified as an expert during the previous four years.

The parties exchanged additional letters, and the court held a pre-motion conference on August 7, 2025. The opinion states that no issues remained outstanding, but Suarez’s August 8 letter emphasized that Dr. Kipnis should disclose prior testimony before administrative tribunals. The opinion also describes D&C United’s cross-motion seeking Suarez’s expert disclosure, responses from Suarez and the Long Island Rail Road Company to a demand, and a deadline for a deposition of the Long Island Rail Road Company’s fact witness. The opinion does not separately state a disposition for each request in that cross-motion.

Ruling

The court noted that the parties had already discussed the relevant prior-testimony information for Mr. Emolo and had provided certain fee and testimony lists for Dr. Kipnis. To the extent D&C United had not already done so, the court ordered it to provide a list of Dr. Kipnis’s relevant prior matters involving testimony before administrative tribunals, together with the docket or index number for each matter. The order excluded Workers’ Compensation proceedings, which the court described as nonpublic proceedings protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate letter motions at Docs. 47, 50, and 52. Judge Edgardo Ramos signed the order.