Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written to illustrate a common motion filed during civil litigation. Reviewing this kind of filing should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this veterinary medical malpractice lawsuit and its proceedings.)
MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
This action involves allegations of professional negligence against a veterinarian and a veterinary clinic. As with any other professional negligence claim, plaintiff’s prima facie case must include a showing that there exists an accepted standard of care and that the Veterinary Defendants’ conduct fell below that standard. The law is well settled that such a prima facie case can only be made by the introduction of appropriate expert testimony:
Ordinarily, where a professional person is accused of negligence in failing to adhere to accepted standards within his profession, the accepted standards must be established only by qualified expert testimony unless the standard is a matter of common knowledge.Osborne v. Irwin Memorial Blood Bank, 5 Cal.App.4th 234, 277 (1992); see also Wilson v. Irwin Memorial Blood Bank, 14 Cal.App.4th 1315 (1993). This rule has been explicitly held to apply to claims against veterinarians. Williamson v. Prida, 75 Cal.App.4th 1417, 1424-1425 (1999).
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
It is anticipated that plaintiff will attempt to introduce testimony from her expert witness wherein he will express opinions concerning his own personal preference for the performance of a prepurchase examination. That testimony should be excluded. (See Part 3 of 4.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.