DELAWARE COURTS TIGHTEN EXPERT REPORT REQUIREMENTS -

In a recent case, the Superior Court held that a party producing an expert report must make sure the report delineates the opinions specifically to meet the disclosure requirements. In Dixon v. Batson, 2015 WL 4594159 (Del. Super. Ct. Jul. 30, 2015), the plaintiffs identified three treating physicians as experts but failed to produce expert reports or their curriculum vitae. The plaintiffs likewise made substantially similar disclosures for each expert. The Court held that, while an expert report (rather than a lawyer-prepared disclosure) is “optimal” to comply with Superior Court Civil Rule 26, a party must at a minimum provide the bases for the expert’s opinions with specificity and must obtain a written commitment from the expert to support the bases for his/her opinions. Likewise, the party must provide the curriculum vitae of the expert.

DELAWARE COURTS PERMIT MEDICAID PAID AMOUNTS TO BE RECOVERED IN PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION -

Recently, the Delaware Superior Court held that, where a party in a personal injury case is a Medicaid recipient, only those amounts actually paid by Medicaid (rather than amounts that are claimed before any write-offs) can be claimed. Specifically, in Smith v. Mahoney, 2015 WL 10519628 (Del. Super. Ct. Nov. 20, 2015), the Superior Court extended the Supreme Court holding in Stayton v. Delaware Health Corp., 117 A.3d 521 (Del. 2015) and the Superior Court holding in Rice v. The Chimes, Inc., C.A. No. 01-03-260 CLS (Del. Super. Ct. 2005) and found that only the Medicaid-paid amount (i.e., the Medicaid lien amount) was claimable as past medical expenses. As a result, the Court, after a jury had awarded the larger billed amount to the plaintiff, reduced the amount that could be received by the Medicaid-receiving plaintiff.