PURVIS v. Blitz USA Inc et al

Filing 46

ORDER denying 41 Motion for Leave to Name Additional Expert Witnesses. Ordered by Judge Hugh Lawson on 11/1/2012. (nbp)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
VALDOSTA DIVISION
SHERRI PURVIS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS
NEXT FRIEND AND NATURAL
GUARDIAN FOR JAMES C. PURVIS,
Plaintiff,
v.

Civil No. 7:11-CV-111 (HL)

BLITZ USA, INC., WAL-MART STORES,
INC., WAL-MART STORES EAST, L.P.,
and WAL-MART STORES EAST, INC.,
Defendants.

ORDER
Before the Court is Defendant Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P.’s (“Wal-Mart”)
Motion for Leave to Name Additional Witnesses (Doc. 41). In its Motion, WalMart requests the Court’s permission to name three additional expert witnesses.
Wal-Mart states that this case is one in a string of other cases revolving around
gas cans manufactured by co-Defendant Blitz USA, Inc. and sold at Wal-Mart. In
the process of litigating the numerous cases similar to the present case, WalMart discovered these expert witnesses and now believes that they are important
to the present case.
In response, Plaintiff Sherri Purvis argues that this case has been pending
for over a year, pointing out that the deadline for disclosing expert witnesses was
originally set for May 14, 2012. Purvis also points out that this deadline was

already extended once at Wal-Mart’s request to allow for expert disclosure as
late as June 29, 2012. Purvis argues that no additional experts should be added
because naming these experts would call for the Court to reopen discovery so
that counsel for the Plaintiff could find rebuttal experts and additional facts
relating to the testimony of the new experts.
After considering the arguments of both parties, the Motion is denied. To
name additional experts at this point in the case would only serve to bog down
this litigation that has been pending for well over a year. The deadlines for expert
disclosure expired several months ago, and the Court is not convinced by WalMart’s arguments that there are extenuating conditions that justify reopening
discovery deadlines that have closed.
SO ORDERED, this 1st day of November, 2012.

s/ Hugh Lawson
HUGH LAWSON, SENIOR JUDGE

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