A senior judge has attacked the practice of calling expensive expert witnesses to give unnecessary evidence.
The criticism came from Dyson J, head of the Technology and Construction Court, formerly the Official Referee’s Court, which deals with complex contractual disputes, primarily building cases.
At the end of his judgment in a building dispute, the judge criticised what he said was a growing practice of bringing experts to court when they are not needed. Dyson J said: “This case provides a good illustration of a problem which is endemic in modern civil litigation. It seems that litigation without expert witnesses is becoming something of a rarity. Of course, I accept that expert witnesses fulfil a vital role in many cases. I strongly suspect, however, that in many cases insufficient thought is given by the parties, and in particular their legal representatives, first to the question whether an expert is really necessary at all and secondly to what issues the evidence of the expert should be directed.”
He said that in this case expert engineers had been called but that their evidence had gone beyond matters on which they should have advised.
He considered that the point to be dealt with by the experts in question should have been brief. Instead, however, they produced elaborate reports, one of them 44 pages long, dealing with issues that he said were inappropriate and that added considerably to the cost of the action.
“In view of the imminent implementation of the Woolf reforms, it is now opportune for everyone who is concerned in civil justice to take a hard look at the whole question of expert management”, he said.
“It seems to me that all have a role to play in this: case-management judges, legal representatives and the experts themselves. Prolix experts reports directed to issues with which they should not be concerned merely add to the expense of litigation.”
The judge added a warning to the profession, saying: “Everything possible should be done to discourage this. In appropriate cases, this will include making special orders for costs.”
PLS News 17/11/98
