Trial Court Addresses Duty of Counsel To Act Reasonably in Moving Forward With Discovery and Depositions

In the case of Knick v. Lehigh Valley Hospital, No. 2024-CV-3016 (C.P. Lacka. Co. Jan,. 30, 2026, Nealon, J.), the court addressed a second Motion filed by a Plaintiff to extend the deadlines for the completion of discovery and expert discovery, and to postpone the scheduled trial date, in a medical malpractice case.

In this Opinion, the court noted earlier admonitions from the court directing the parties to promptly initiate and complete their pre-trial preparations.

In their filings on this Motion, each party claimed that the opposing party was the reason for the delay. 

The court noted, however, that defense counsel produced emails and other communications between counsel reflecting that the Plaintiff made no attempt to schedule a single deposition for the first fourteen (14) months that the case was pending and that defense counsel had made many attempts to schedule depositions only to have Plaintiff’s counsel claim that they were unavailable and, on another occasion, to cancel the depositions that had been scheduled for mutually convenient dates.

The court noted that litigants and their counsel have an obligation to act reasonably in scheduling and conducting discovery depositions, and when attorneys are unavailable to complete pending legal matters in a timely fashion, the Rules of Professional Conduct require them to either (a) decline additional work, (b) seek assistance or (c) withdraw and allow another attorney to complete the work.

Ultimately, the court granted the Plaintiff’s Motion to Extend partially by allowing for deadlines to be modified in a limited fashion. However, the request to postpone the July of 2026 trial date was denied.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.