Guzman v. Lazzari

In a medical malpractice case against a cardiologist for failing to prescribe an anticoagulant after mitral valve replacement, the trial court granted partial summary judgment striking the defendant's Fabre defense against the settling cardiac surgeon because the defendant had no same-specialty expert on the surgeon's standard of care, and excluded the cardiac surgeon's testimony as cumulative. The Fourth DCA reversed, holding that under these limited circumstances—where the negligence alleged against both providers was identical (failure to prescribe an anticoagulant)—no separate specialty expert was required to submit the Fabre nonparty to the jury, and that merely duplicative testimony from the surgeon could not be excluded as needlessly cumulative.

Florida Court Tracker provides summaries of publicly available court opinions for informational and research purposes only. This is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Always verify holdings against the official opinion.