With the number of experts willing to take on medico-legal work falling, and those that do failing to keep up to date with their area of expertise, solicitors should think carefully before instructing them, says DJ David Oldham
When exercising case management powers under CPR Part 3, the procedural judge will frequently have to consider the question of expert evidence. There is a three-stage test to be applied in each case: 1) is there a need for expert evidence at all; 2) if so, is it appropriate for there to be a single expert, jointly instructed; and 3) if that is not appropriate, should each party be permitted its own expert?
There are many cases where some involvement of an expert witness is clearly required. The most common such case is a claim for damages for personal injury, where the CPR requires the claimant to file and serve, with their Particulars of Claim, any medical report relied on. In the smaller cases, such a report may well come from a ...
