Keeping The Woolf From Your Door - Part 10

Experts
An expert's duty is to the court and not to the person giving them instructions.

When applying for leave to use an expert a party must name the expert or if not practical then at least identify the field of their expertise.

The court can direct parties to use a joint expert. If the parties cannot agree on a joint expert the court will select an expert from a list prepared by the parties or by some other means. Each party may give instructions to that expert and the court can specify the issues the expert is to address when the experts meet. The experts can meet by telephone rather than physical attendance.

The court can limit the amount of expert's fees and expenses which can be recovered from the other party. In the case of the joint expert instructions the court can direct that the expert's fees are paid in to court by the instructing parties.

In fast track cases experts will not be required to attend the hearing unless it is necessary to do so in the interest of justice.

One party may put to the other party's expert written questions about their report.

An expert can request directions from the court without giving notice to the parties.

The protocol suggests that before instructing an expert the Claimant should send the Defendant a list of prospective names of experts and the Defendant can indicate within 14 days any objection to one or more of those experts. If the Defendant objects to all the names on the list then the Claimant is free to chose an expert of his own without fear of cost sanctions.

An expert's report must be addressed to the court.

Details of the expert's qualifications and experience and any literature relied on must be contained in the report.

The expert must summarise the range of opinions.

There must be a summary of the conclusions of the expert.

There must be a statement that the expert understands his duty to the court.

There must be a statement setting out the substance of the expert's material instructions. Such instructions are not protected by privilege. However, there can be no cross examination on the contents of the instructions without the courts permission.

Expert's report must contain statement of truth that the facts in his / her report are true and their opinion correct.

Questions to the expert must be made within 28 days of receipt of the expert's report.

Where there is more than one discipline then the leading expert in a dominant discipline must exhibit to his report the contents of any reports from experts of other disciplines.

Conclusion
The overriding objective of the Civil Procedure Rules is to enable the courts to deal with cases in a just, expeditious and fair way which ensures that parties are on an equal footing and also to save expense and deal with cases in ways which are proportionate to:

1. The amount of money involved.

2. The importance of the case.

3. The complexity of the issues, and

4. The financial position of each party.

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