A New Attack on the Contigious State and Locality Rule?

The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled unconstitutional a state statute that imposed certain requirements on expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases.  The statute required that experts be board certified in the same specialty as the defendant and mandated that the expert have practiced (or taught) that same specialty for the year prior to their testimony.

The Court ruled that it was the job of the courts to make rules relative to matters of procedure and that the legislature could not infringe on the role of the courts.

The case is Seisinger v. Siebel,  No 1 CA-CV 07-0266 (AZ. Ct. App. June 17, 2008).  Read it here.

Thanks to Jeff Boyd, God’s gift to the women of rural Madison County, for telling me about the case.