High Court to Decide if Expert’s Outburst was Proper

In Pin v. Kramer, 119 Conn. App. 33 (2010), as reported here, the Appellate Court held that it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to fail to give a curative instruction following the defense expert’s rant about the need to practice defensive medicine to protect against malpractice claims, the rising cost of medical care, doctors being forced to leave the practice of medicine, etc. The Appellate Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, but the defendant petitioned for cert., which was granted. The Supreme Court will now decide whether the Appellate Court was correct in determining that the trial court improperly failed to give a curative instruction and, if such an instruction was required, was the failure to give it harmful.