Defense counsel’s references to a theory of causation that had been excluded pretrial were prejudicial to the plaintiffs, a divided state Superior Court panel ruled, granting a new trial in a medical negligence case.

In Carlitz v. Delta Medix, a three-judge panel of the court ruled 2-1 that trial counsel for defendant Jeffrey W. Guse violated a Lackawanna County judge’s pretrial order excluding from evidence a supplemental report by defense causation expert Dr. Jack Henzes.