Cases - Carlson v Townsend
Record details
- Name
- Carlson v Townsend
- Date
- [2001]
- Citation
- EWCA Civ 511
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Expert witness
- Summary
-
In a personal injury case, and following the Pre-action protocol for personal injury claims, the claimant's solicitors informed the defendant's insurers that they wanted 1 of 3 named orthopaedic surgeons as expert witnesses. The insurers objected to 1 and another was instructed. The defendant's insurers argued that the instructions to the expert were to be on a joint instruction basis and they expected simultaneous access to the report.
The High Court judge had concluded that the report was privileged because only the claimant had instructed the expert. The Court of Appeal held that, just because the defendant's insurers had not objected to the expert in question, this did not make him a single joint expert (SJE). The court could not override the privilege between the expert and the solicitors instructing him.