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15 October 2020 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7906 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil Way: 16 October 2020

Ditching SJE principles; Fast tribunal listing in employment; Oral exam docs not for show; What the Judge ordered

EXPERT ABANDONMENT

Having given permission to appeal in the noise induced hearing loss claim of Hinson v Hare Realizations Ltd [2020] EWHC 2386 (QB), Martin Spencer J disappointed the claimant by throwing the appeal out. The single joint engineering expert had been against the claimant. Three days before the fast track trial which had been twice adjourned, the claimant applied for a further adjournment and permission to rely on his unilaterally instructed expert who would have been for him and for consequential case management directions including a retracking. There was good reason for the lateness but the application was dismissed, as then was the claim on its merits.

What should be the approach to an application to abandon a single joint expert and adduce unilaterally instructed expert evidence? The correct approach, decided the appeal judge, was that set out by Eady J in Bulic v Harwoods [2012] EWHC 3657 who had referred

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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