The Jackson reforms made the courts more cost-conscious and, consequently, stricter. In this week’s NLJ, Dr Chris Pamplin, editor of the UK Register of Expert Witnesses, asks whether a more balanced approach should be taken by courts which, ten years after Jackson, remain loathe to admit late expert evidence.
The Mitchell case in 2013 marked the onset of a harsher era. Pamplin writes: ‘The court ruled that relief from sanctions would not be granted where deadlines were overlooked. This was commonly applied in cases where deadlines for filing expert reports were missed.’
Pamplin looks at a ‘surprising’ but salutary case for solicitors and experts in which late evidence was refused even though it was central to the case.
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