Daniel Schneller v. St. Mary's Hospital

Daniel Schneller, a minor, and his parents, Thomas and Cheryl Schneller, appeal from an order dismissing their medical malpractice
claim against St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center and three doctors (collectively, St. Mary's). The issues are: (1) whether
sec. 801.15(2)(a), Stats., which requires a party filing an untimely motion to extend a time deadline to show "excusable neglect"
in order to gain an extension of the deadline, is limited to time limits imposed by statute or whether it is equally applicable
to limits imposed by court order; and (2) whether the trial court abused its discretion when it declined to permit the Schnellers
to name a liability expert after expiration of the time set in the pretrial order for designation of experts. We conclude that the excusable neglect standard of sec. 801.15(2)(a), Stats., applies to untimely applications for relief
from court-ordered deadlines as well as those established by statute or rule and, further, that the court did not abuse its
discretion in denying the Schnellers' request to extend the deadline it had set for production of expert witnesses. We therefore
affirm the order.