The approach of expert witnesses who give evidence in injury claims relating to the care requirements of seriously injured individuals has been in the spotlight in recent High Court decisions.
Experts who report in that type of case have been given guidance which is essential reading and will help to improve their practice. Instructing solicitors will expect that every care expert is familiar with what has been said and has taken it on board when preparing their evidence.
The lessons come courtesy of Mr Justice Cotter in his decisions in Muyepa and Scarcliffe. If you want to skip to the sections on care evidence, both judgments are excellently indexed so that you can go straight to the relevant section on the care evidence.
There is already detailed legal analysis of the two judgments, and if you find it helpful to have experienced barristers pick out the lessons from the cases, summarise and order the learning points, and add some helpful commentary too, you may want to have a look at the pieces from barristers Bruno Gil of Old Square Chambers and/or Alex Taylor of Deans Court Chambers. Both commentaries provide great examples of how to address the issues raised by the judgments in your own evidence. They will also give you a sense of what your instructing solicitor should be thinking about and addressing with you.
The judgments in these claims undoubtedly herald a more critical analysis of care expert evidence for ongoing and future cases. It is incumbent on any expert who gives evidence on care issues to be familiar with the cases and the lessons from them.