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Cenal v. Ragunton12/27/2004
testified for defendants, or, How often have you testified on behalf of doctors? What amount of income have you earned because of that? What percentage of your income is that?
You can do all that without getting into who wrote the check.
[Cenals' Counsel]: Well, my --
THE COURT: That's fair game.
[Cenals' Counsel]: Sure.
THE COURT: That's completely fair game.
[Cenals' Counsel]: And my only point, Your Honor, the fact that he's paid repeatedly by the same carrier I think is relevant to his interest or bias to testify favorably where he is being paid by the same insurer for that same carrier because he will continually be hired by that carrier. He has a steady stream of income. As long as he doesn't testify against any physician employed or insured by MIEC, he has an opportunity to continually testify.
And MIEC does this quite frequently, Your Honor. They hire the same experts, and no one gets the chance to challenge them about I think a significant area of interest and bias that that witness has based on the fact that they're repeatedly paid by the same carrier.
Like the trial court in Strain, the circuit court was faced with the question of whether to allow Cenals' counsel to cross-examine Dr. Druger on payments made to him by MIEC. Similarly, it appears from the transcript that Cenals' counsel wanted to reveal Dr. Druger's bias as a "hired gun" for MIEC. As in Strain, the circuit court allowed the Cenals wide latitude to explore any potential bias through questioning that would not mention insurance. In fact, the circuit court suggested questions the Cenals could ask to elicit this information.
Furthermore, at trial, Dr. Ragunton's counsel elicited the following information from Dr. Druger on direct examination:
Q: [Dr. Ragunton's Counsel] Doctor . . . you were hired by myself to review this case and to evaluate it and give me your opinions with regard to the care and treatment rendered by Dr. Ragunton to Mrs. Cenal; is it true?
A: [Dr. Druger] That's correct.
Q: And, of course, you're being paid for your time?
A: That's correct.
Q: And how much are you charging today to testify in court?
A: I'm not positive, but I think it's $500 an hour.
Q: All right. And how much time have you spent reviewing this case and reviewing records and looking at depositions in terms of coming to your opinions and conclusions.
A: An estimate would probably be twenty hours.
Q: Now, you've testified as an expert witness in other legal matters in the past.
A: That's correct.
Q: Some of them involve medical/legal cases like we have here today?
A: Yes.
Q: And have you testified as an expert witness in other capacities?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about that.
A: Yes. I work with a lot of mostly men who have worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and have been exposed to asbestos. I have literally hundreds of patients who have abestosis and asbestos-related disease, and I've testified hundreds of times on their behalf because they have asbestosis.
Q: How many times have you been qualified as an expert by a court of law in your field of specialty, pulmonary medicine, internal medicine?
A: I would say hundreds of times.
(Emphasis added.) During closing argument, Cenals' counsel also alluded to the fact that Dr. Druger was a paid expert, stating:
More importantly, we showed you that all of [Anatalia's] treating doctors
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