Scope of expert’s assessment can be limited by court
The following story about when the court can decide the limit of an expert witness’s assessment of likely value of damages was featured on the website of Goodman Legal in December.
The case concerned the estate of an elderly woman. When she died her daughter – who was her personal representative – realised that some of her late mother’s land was occupied unlawfully by three people. She brought an action against them, seeking to recover possession of the land and claiming damages for ‘use and possession’ of it.
A number of new pressures on expert witnesses will combine to make this year a seminal one for experts in all disciplines, according to an article in the Law Society Gazette's Legal Services Directory. The initiatives are the cap on fees, introduced in October (with the setting of London levels lower than those outside London), the removal of immunity from prosecution, proposals for pre-trial assessment of witness evidence and the introduction of 'hot-tubbing' of witnesses already being trialled in the Family Court and Chancery Courts. The eventual introduction of Jackson LJ's proposals on civil costs will add to the squeeze.
IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has expressed his condolences and sympathy for all those caught up in tragic accidents involving ships over the weekend.