Cases - Layland v Fairview Homes plc
Record details
- Name
- Layland v Fairview Homes plc
- Date
- [2002]; [2003]
- Citation
- EWHC 1350 (Ch); BLR 20, ChD
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Expert witness - Civil Procedure Rules
- Summary
-
This is one of the earliest reported decisions on the court's power to appoint SJEs under CPR 35.7. The court noted that such an appointment will be particularly attractive in low-value claims where the issue for expert evidence is easy to identify. The case concerned a claim by purchasers of a flat against the developers and local planning authority for damages allegedly caused by diminution in value after planning permission was granted for a waste disposal plant nearby.
The first instance judge had been entitled to reject 2 reports produced by the claimants disagreeing with that of the SJE, since these were produced late and offered no solid evidence not taken into account by the SJE. The court has discretion as to whether to allow parties to call their own experts; here, where the claim was small and the contribution of the new experts was dubious, it would be disallowed. Apart from this,
'the Court will normally permit a party to call his own expert, if he has reasonable grounds for wishing to take that course'.
However, on appeal, the judge had been wrong to strike out the claim; there was a realistic possibility of diminution in value which could only be tested at trial by cross-examination of the SJE.