Dr Chris Pamplin looks at what can happen if an expert witness is prevented from attending for bona fide reasons
It can be argued that in an adversarial justice system, natural justice demands that each party should have a fair and equal opportunity to test the witness evidence. But how far should this requirement be allowed to override more practical matters imposed on a busy and expensive court system? The court can order the attendance of a witness, but what if a witness is prevented from attending for bona fide reasons?
When an expert falls ill
Mr Justice Foskett pondered these matters in a High Court application in Robshaw v United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust [2015] EWHC 923 (QB), [2015] All ER (D) 21 (Apr). The court considered an application to adjourn a clinical negligence trial based on the defendant’s inability to cross-examine one of the claimant’s expert witnesses who was ill.
The claimant in the case had sought to rely on the expert evidence of a consultant paediatric neurologist (Dr F). Since the
