The trial dealt with liability issues relating to the alleged use of prohibited defeat devices. That is, devices which reduce the effectiveness of a vehicle’s emission control system for which there is no excuse or applicable exception. The judge criticised three of the expert witnesses for not complying with their duties under Part 35, and praised others.

The Claimant brought a claim in negligence against the Defendant, a dental practitioner, about the Defendant’s alleged failure to provide her with adequate advice about the risks and benefits of the treatment options available to her. The Claimant’s expert lacked understanding of the Bolam test, had not considered the dental notes, and was forced to make significant concessions in the joint report.

Modern digital systems generate a detailed electronic footprint, including timestamps, document revisions, communications, task completion, and other system-generated metadata. These audit trails can provide an objective chronology of events that extends beyond the primary documentary record.

In Shaheen and Ahmed v Daish, the electronic audit trail demonstrated that elements of the management plan, including the chest X-ray request, were completed after the consultation had ended. While entirely consistent with routine clinical workflow, this chronology became legally significant because it supported the inference that there was no contemporaneous evidence that the patient had been informed about the investigation or how to access it.

The Claimant alleged that the Defendant was in breach of the agreement between the parties for the supply of single alpha chain collagen. The judge was critical of the Claimant’s expert witnesses, in particular noting that he would have had to direct further accounting expert evidence be produced, if the evidence had been required.

The operator of the Nord Stream pipeline was suing insurance companies for damages caused to the pipelines by explosions which rendered them inoperable. The Defendant insurance companies asserted that the claim for damage was excluded under the policies. Judge found the evidence of one of the geopolitical experts unsatisfactory because he appeared at times to be seeking to support the Claimant’s case by advancing arguments that flew in the face of common sense and the inferences to be drawn from the known facts.

In the fifth article in the Working with expert witnesses series, Richard Lodge a Partner at Stewarts, discusses his experience of working with Single Joint Experts. 

In her judgment on X and Y (Care Proceedings: Fact Finding: Death of a Child), the Judge was highly critical of the evidence and conduct during proceedings of one of the expert witnesses, a consultant neurosurgeon, Mr M. This judgment, which should be read alongside the earlier judgment, dealt with whether Mr M should be named within that published judgment.

This year’s Annual Conference discussed AI, independence, credibility, transparency and the changing expectations on expert witnesses.

This month on the Expert Matters Podcast, we take a look at the EWI Annual Conference which was held on 19 June. The Conference got off to a great start with a keynote speech on AI & the Expert Witness by Sir Geoffrey Vos, the Master of the Rolls, and carried on with great speakers and panels. Join us on a trip down memory lane as we relive our key highlights from the event. 

The decision in Evie Toombes v Dr Mitchell [2021] EWHC 3234 (QB) offers important lessons for expert witnesses across all disciplines. Although the case arose from a routine primary care consultation on pre-conception folic acid advice, the legal principles extend well beyond general practice. The case centred on an apparently straightforward clinical encounter that raised significant issues of duty of care, foreseeability, causation, and the standard of care. 

For expert witnesses, the judgment reinforced the importance of objective, evidence based opinions, careful analysis of contemporaneous records, and clear reasoning.