Designation deadlines are set by the scheduling order, typically sequencing the party with the burden first and rebuttal disclosures thereafter. Federal defaults apply absent a court order.
Late designation generally results in exclusion.
Alternative Names:
Expert Deadline, Designation Deadline
Why it Matters?
Exclusion follows automatically under Rule 37(c)(1) unless the failure was substantially justified or harmless, and courts apply that standard strictly where the deadline was set by scheduling order. The practical constraint is that expert work requires the underlying discovery to be complete, so a designation deadline set too close to the discovery cutoff creates a compression problem that should be raised at the scheduling conference rather than by later motion.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What happens to a late designation?
What scheduling issue should be raised early?
