Section 13.19 Learned Treatises

• Library: Sources of Proof (2014 Ed.)

E. (§13.19) Learned Treatises

Learned treatises may also be used to cross-examine an expert. Before using the treatise, the party must lay a foundation that the treatise is authoritative. If this is not established, the cross-examination may be improper. Embree v. Norfolk & W. Ry. Co., 907 S.W.2d 319, 325–26 (Mo. App. E.D. 1995) (no foundation of a medical treatise’s authoritative nature was made for it to be used to impeach a medical expert); Foster v. Barnes-Jewish Hosp., 44 S.W.3d 432, 437–38 (Mo. App. E.D. 2001) (when a text is not established as authoritative, or even commonly used, it may not be used to cross-examine). Hearsay is the correct objection when a nonauthoritative text is used to cross-examine an expert. Failure to make an “intelligible and timely” hearsay objection, or failure to object at all, waives the error. Wilkerson v. Prelutsky, 943 S.W.2d 643, 650 (Mo. banc 1997). If this objection is not made during the trial, it cannot be made...