In our latest article, Gavin Roberts, MAPS Trustee, highlights important judicial reminders from Hepworth v Coates [2025] EWHC 1907 (KB), where HHJ Charman held that experts must properly reference the sources they rely on, including the dates of signed witness statements and request any relevant evidence they have not been given. In the case of Hepworth v Coates [2025] EWHC1907 (KB), HHJ Charman provides some very useful reminders of what is expected of experts when preparing their reports.
Although the claim failed on liability, the Judge went on to make a number of comments about the conduct of two of the claimant’s experts.
On referencing information obtained from the claimant, the Judge stated that a failure to identify when and how such information had been elicited was unhelpful and did not comply with the spirit of Practice Direction 35. He went on to say that the same applied to the failure to identify the dates of witness statements that had been reviewed and taken into account. An explanation for this omission, based on the administrative inconvenience of witness statements being updated, was not accepted as an adequate excuse.
The key point for experts to take from this is that, if you refer to a statement, you must give the date on which it was signed.
Later in the same judgment, the Judge was critical of another of the claimant’s experts, who had prepared his report, met with the defendant’s expert and signed a joint statement without consulting the claimant’s witness statement or the reports of other relevant experts. Crucially, he also failed to ask to see them. Although the Judge accepted it was not the expert’s fault that these documents had not been provided, it was nevertheless a serious omission not to have requested them before finalising his report.
The lesson is that while solicitors should provide all relevant documents, if you believe there are additional materials you need to see, you are under an obligation to request them before finalising your report.