The state appeals court relies on the “cancellation rule” for conflicting expert testimony

A state appeals court has denied a patient’s request for damages against a therapist in a health care liability claim because of conflicting information between the affidavit and the testimony of his expert witness.

On December 3, the Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s order summary judgment granted on behalf of a therapist accused of inappropriate, sexually charged behavior toward a former patient, Tray Simmons.

Appellate Judge Jeffrey Usman ruled that Simmons’ expert witness provided conflicting testimony about whether he suffered psychological injury as a result of Dr. Dr.’s alleged unprofessional conduct. Shahidul Islam of the Anxiety Depression Disorders Clinic. Islam, who mentored Simmons for years, allegedly made inappropriate phone calls to Simmons before a session in November 2013, leaving Simmons “emotionally scarred,” according to prosecutors’ claims.

Citing the precedents of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and other states, the appeals court held that the plaintiff’s expert, Dr. Sherri Studstill, had given conflicting testimony about the damage. In the opinion, Usman summarized her conflicting statements and found that “no admissible explanation” had been given for them.

“(Studstill) indicated that damages were possible, but that she had not established that Mr. Simmons had suffered actual damages,” Usman wrote. “As to whether Dr. Studstill provided expert testimony regarding the damage: these statements are contradictory.

“It is critical that there is no acceptable explanation from Dr. Studstill was offered to address the discrepancy,” he continued. “Therefore, we cannot find fault with the trial court’s analysis in the instant case, applying the cancellation rule and considering Dr. Studsil on the matter is made. of damages is null and void.”

Simmons, a survivor of a child rape in 2010, accused Islam of pressuring him to recount the traumatic experience, while the therapist allegedly touched himself and the patient, among other things. Simmons claimed the interaction left him feeling “raped all over again,” while Islam denied the allegations, the opinion said.

After his first expert witness withdrew, Simmons found Studstill, a licensed physician with a background in family medicine and a degree in public health with an emphasis in behavioral sciences.

In her affidavit, Studstill claimed that “