10 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 545a
Insurance — Discovery — Depositions — Expert witness fees — Treating physician is to be treated as fact witness and appear for deposition without pre-payment of any expert witness fee
LONG CHIROPRACTIC & REHAB CENTER, as assignee of LORI WALBRING, Plaintiff, vs. PROGRESSIVE EXPRESS INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. County Court, 13th Judicial Circuit in and for Hillsborough County. Case No. 2002-13669 SC. Division I. April 24, 2003. Charlotte Anderson, Judge. Counsel: Edgar J. Guzman, Adams, Blackwell & Diaco, P.A. Mark T. Tischhauser.
ORDER
THIS CAUSE, having come before the Court at a hearing on Monday, April 21, 2003, on Defendants’s Motion to Compel Deposition of Dr. Long Without Expert Witness Fee, and the Court having heard argument of counsel and being otherwise fully advised of the premises, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that:
1. Defendant’s Motion to Compel Deposition of Dr. Long Without Expert Witness Fee is GRANTED.
2. Dr. Long, D.C., as the treating physician, is a party to this lawsuit and will appear for her deposition without pre-payment of any expert witness fee because it is her efforts that constitute the basis of Plaintiff’s claim and this Court is of the opinion that the treating physician should therefore submit to her deposition as a fact witness.
3. The appellate courts have recognized that the treating physician should be treated as a fact witness. See Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. v. Perez, 715 So. 2d 289 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1998); Franz, D.D.S. v. Golebiewski, 407 So. 2d 283 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1981).
4. The lower court has also extended the reasoning adopted by the appellate courts. See Kurdian v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins., 7 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 684 (Fla. 17th Cir., County Ct., June 29, 2000).
* * *
