Opinion
No. CV 02 0192329 S
March 3, 2006
DECISION RE MOTION FOR DETERMINATION OF REASONABLE EXPERT FEES (#133.00)
The plaintiff in this medical malpractice action seeks a determination by the Court as to an appropriate expert witness fee to be paid to defendant's expert witness, Dr. Stephen Brody, for his deposition testimony. Dr. Brody has indicated that his fee is $1,000.00 per hour and that he allotted approximately 5 hours for his deposition and therefore seeks a fee of $5,000.00. These funds are presently being held pending the court's determination.
Dr. Brody was deposed on November 29, 2005. His deposition lasted approximately one hour and forty minutes, though the court presumes that the deposition involved some preparation time for the doctor. During the deposition, he testified that he charges $250.00 per hour for reviewing files but that he charges $1000.00 per hour for deposition testimony.
Practice Book § 13-4 provides that the court shall requires the payment of reasonable expert fees incurred as a result of discovery. The practice book does not provide any guidance on how a "reasonable" fee is to be determined and nor have our own appellate courts. However, several superior court decisions have borrowed the rationale of the federal courts in their evaluations under FRCP 26, our rule's federal counterpart. Those cases identify a number of factors that are appropriate for consideration in setting a reasonable fee. See, Brought v. Batson, 36 Conn. L. Rptr 189 (December 17, 2003) (Bellis, J.); Gormley v. MG Transport, 38 Conn. L. Rptr. 81 (2004) (Dewey, J.); Rose v. Jolly, 48 Conn.Sup. 606 (2004) ( 37 Conn. L. Rptr. 495). Thus, the determination of what is "reasonable" requires a fact based analysis and will be determined on a case by case basis. See, Rose v. Jolly, 48 Conn.Sup. at 608. The court has reviewed Dr. Brody's deposition testimony; plaintiff's supplemental brief; both parties' initial submission on the motion and the attachments to each of these items. To the extent the information is contained within these items, the court has considered: (1) the doctor's area of expertise; (2) the doctor's education and experience; (3) the nature and complexity of the issues upon which the doctor was deposed; (4) the fees charged to the defendant for file review; (5) the doctor's general fee for testimony; (6) the actual length of time required for the deposition. See, e.g. Brought v. Batson, 36 Conn. L. Rptr. 189 (December 17, 2003) (Bellis, J.); Gormley v. MG Transport, 38 Conn. L. Rptr. 81 (2004).
The court finds that a fee of $5,000 for the deposition of Dr. Brody is excessive and unreasonable. While it is reasonable to charge more for deposition testimony than for file review, a differential of this magnitude, under the particular circumstances of this case, is not reasonable. The court finds a reasonable expert fee for Dr. Brody's deposition to be $1000.00 and the plaintiff is directed to pay this amount.