Expert Immunity – A Bygone Era
28/06/2011
Experts should be aware that if they have been negligent in the past and/or from now on they may be pursued after the recent decision from the Supreme Court of Justice.
Witness immunity dates back over 400 years, long before the development of the modern law of negligence and the practice of forensic experts to offer services to litigants for reward. So why have the courts decided that it is now time to change that position. The general rule was that every wrong should have a remedy and that any exception to this rule must be justified as being necessary in the public interest. The court decided that it was no longer in the public interest to relieve an expert of its obligation to provide a service to its client with reasonable skill and care.