Cases - University of Warwick v Sir Robert McAlpine

Record details

Name

University of Warwick v Sir Robert McAlpine

Date

[1988]

Citation

42 BLR 1, QBD

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

The observations of the judge on the role of expert witnesses were all obiter (i.e. not essential to the decision and therefore not strictly binding) in this case on negligent design and construction, but offer useful guidance on the role of experts, particularly in such cases.

The judge criticised the tendency of some of the experts to 'enter into the arena in order to advocate their client's case' leading to (justifiable) attacks by counsel on their credibility and veracity:

'This simply should not happen where the court is called upon to decide complex scientific or technical issues.'

The judge also objected to reports which 'contained the expertise of two or more experts'. If a non-signatory contributor to the report is not called, it places opposing counsel and the court in some difficulty as to how to scrutinise the evidence.

(See on this latter point R v Balfour Beatty.)