Cases - Cosgrove v Pattison
Record details
- Name
- Cosgrove v Pattison
- Date
- [2001]
- Citation
- Times Law Reports 13 Feb, ChD
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Expert witness
- Summary
-
In a neighbour dispute where an SJE had been appointed pursuant to CPR 35.8, the defendants sought permission to call their own expert. Overturning the refusal of the district judge to allow this, the court set out the factors to consider when deciding such an application:
'... although it would be wrong to pretend that this is an exhaustive list, the factors to be taken into account when considering an application to permit a further expert to be called are these. First, the nature of the issue or issues; secondly, the number of issues between the parties; thirdly, the reason the new expert is wanted; fourthly, the amount at stake and, if it is not purely money, the nature of the issues at stake and their importance; fifthly, the effect of permitting one party to call further expert evidence on the conduct of the trial; sixthly, the delay, if any, in making the application; seventhly, any delay that the instructing and calling of the new expert will cause; eighthly, any special features of the case; and finally, and in a sense all embracing, the overall justice to the parties in the context of the litigation'.
(See Daniels v Walker, applied in the above case.)