The court could see no basis on which the plaintiffs could seek to rely on any agreement reached between the experts as to the underlying facts.

Nolan v Dildar Ltd (Approved) [2024] IEHC 4 

For accident reconstruction, emergency medicine and neurosurgery experts, this case illustrates the interdependence of accident reconstruction and medical evidence and the need for the medical experts to have regard to the accident reconstruction evidence.

Colizzi v Coulson [2024] EWHC 1956 (KB)

The report of an expert in psychiatry was undermined by his acceptance of the appellent's account which, unbeknown to him, a previous tribunal had found to lack credibility. The court also attached less weight to the expert's assessment than it did to a hospital letter because the assessment had been conducted remotely.

Chahal v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] UKAITUR UI2024001451

Tim White is a chartered chemist who uses his expertise to assess chemical risk from exposure to water. He has been an Expert Witness for over 40 years, advising on cases relating to water quality, land contamination and corrosion.

One of the key roles of the Expert Witness Institute is to ensure that policy, rule and regulatory changes are informed by the experience of our members and the needs of the expert witness community and the wider justice system. In this update, we discuss our work in this area over the last 3 months.   

On 1 October 2024, the latest amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules will come into force.

The Family Procedure Rule Committee is consulting on a new draft Practice Direction 27A on court bundles.

Earlier this year, we asked our members about the single biggest change they’ve seen since they started practicing as an Expert Witness. With members from numerous disciplines who’ve been practicing from 40 years to 4 months, we expected a wide variety of insights, and we weren’t disappointed.

This case is primarily of interest to obstetricians, illustrating the court’s approach to the disputed interpretation of cardiotocographic evidence. There were no midwifery issues as such, but it may be of some interest to midwifery experts. The general learning points speak for themselves without reading the summary.

Woods v Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2024] EWHC 1432 (KB)

Simon and Sean discuss expert fees and catch up with Dominic Woodhouse from Partners in Costs to talk about cost management and budgeting in civil proceedings.