[CLC-Discussion] Informal poll on expert witnesses

[Justin Zinzow]

From a theoretical perspective I agree.

Justin R. Zinzow
Florida Board Certified in Construction Law
Zinzow Law, LLC
Admitted to Practice in Florida and Texas

On Sep 10, 2019, at 9:16 PM, Timothy R. Moorhead <tmoorhead at wfmblaw.com<mailto:tmoorhead at wfmblaw.com>> wrote:

Question for the group.  Please respond only to me to avoid clogging everyone’s email as I have just done.

The last time I tried a jury trial with expert witnesses, the jurors universally commented that they simply ignored the expert witnesses of both sides.  The comment was that they figured that any lawyer could find an expert to say whatever they wanted.  Unfortunately, there is probably a lot of truth to that comment.  In the olden days when we took notes on stone tablets, we law students were taught that experts testify as a “friend of the court” the idea was that the Court would be in need of some expert guidance.

So, would there be any support for a rule change that would ban party sponsored experts from testifying?

Instead, a party would petition the Court to appoint an expert who would then be paid through the Court equally by all parties.  The expert would then be testifying as a truly neutral witness.  The experts would go through a vetting process to become certified as an expert in any particular field and much like a list of mediators, a list would be available to the Courts.  The parties either agree on an expert who is then approached by the Court, or the Court selects its own expert.

This makes the expert testimony much more reliable and the qualification of the expert has been handled ahead of time.  No more Daubert challenges, the Court has predetermined who is and who is not a reliable expert.  The Court decides whether to allow the expert to present his testimony or simple advise the Court with regard to any questions the Court may have.

The Parties would be free to engage their own consulting experts to assist with questioning, etc., but no testimony from them.

Thanks for reading.  What do you think?




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Timothy R. Moorhead, Esq.
Board Certified in Construction Law
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