U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle excluded lawyer Joseph Bleyer of Marion from testifying as an expert at a trial about legal malpractice in a St. Clair County case.
On Feb. 23 she wrote, “He has never handled a legal malpractice case and has no particular knowledge, experience or training in the area of legal professional responsibility.
“His anticipated testimony will not assist a jury and is more than likely to lead to confusion and speculation.”
Lawyer James Borland and the Quinn Johnston firm of Peoria designated Bleyer as their expert against Ansur America Insurance.
Ansur retained Borland in 2016 to defend an injury suit that Tom Keefe of Swansea filed for Helen Miles against Signature Hardware.
Keefe claimed Miles purchased an adjustable height bamboo shower stool that broke and caused her to suffer injuries.
Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson entered summary judgment on liability and prepared for trial on actual and punitive damages.
Ansur settled with Miles for more than $10 million and its reinsurers covered some of the cost.
Ansur sued Borland and Quinn Johnston in 2021 to recover the difference between the settlement and the actual value of the claim.
The complaint stated, “The defense Borland and Quinn Johnston mounted was woeful in a multitude of respects and resulted in an enormous loss to Signature and Ansur.”
Borland and Quinn Johnston designated Bleyer as an expert and he provided a report and deposition testimony stating Borland and Quinn Johnston met the standard of care.
Ansur moved last September to exclude him.
Yandle found Bleyer has a great deal of experience but he didn’t connect the dots between his experience and the bases for his opinions and conclusions.
She found he failed in his deposition to identify a measurable standard of care or the source of what he believed the standard was.
“Instead his opinions are based solely upon his professional judgment to be applied on a case by case basis,” she wrote.
“In other words his methodology is nothing more than what he would have done under the circumstances presented.”
She found he didn’t cite or attempt to apply the rules of professional conduct.
Five lawyers in the Chicago firm of Sweeney, Scharkey and Blanchard represent Ansur.
Five Chicago lawyers, Robert Stephens of St. Louis and Laura Beasley of Belleville represent Borland and Quinn Johnston.
Yandle has set trial to start March 10.
This article was first published in Madison Record.
