Expert Witness Blog

Practical guidance for expert witnesses — testimony, report writing, depositions, fees and building a successful practice.

March 5, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in North Carolina

North Carolina Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under Rule 26(b)(4) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, experts in North Carolina may only be subject to deposition, or any form of discovery beyond interrogatories exchanged by the parties, upon court order. Such an order will be granted where a party’s disclosures regarding its experts pursuant to

March 5, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Michigan

Michigan Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under Rule 2.302(4)(a)(ii) of the Michigan Court Rules, experts who are expected to testify at trial may be deposed. Michigan laws and rules do not specify a time limit for depositions, but Rule 2.306(B)(2) provides that the court may increase or decrease the time allowed for deposition “to best serve the

March 5, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Georgia

Georgia Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under § 9-11-26(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the Georgia Code, experts who are expected to testify at trial may be deposed in the same manner as any other witness. Oral depositions are governed by § 9-11-30, which does not provide a general time limit for depositions, but does state that the court has the

March 5, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Ohio

Ohio Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Ohio rules and cases are not explicit regarding the availability of deposition for experts. However, it seems that most authorities on Ohio law treat the vague reference to further discovery of testifying experts in Rule 26(B)(5)(b) of the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure as making depositions available for testifying experts. William

March 5, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under Rule 4003.5(a)(2) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, experts may only be subject to deposition “[u]pon cause shown.” Such a finding of cause appears to be exceedingly rare in Pennsylvania. For an example of a Pennsylvania case in which sufficient cause was shown to permit the deposition of an

March 4, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Illinois

Illinois Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Testifying experts may be subject to deposition in Illinois. Under Rule 206(d) of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules, depositions are generally limited to three hours. Experts retained only for consulting purposes, on the other hand, may only be subject to discovery under exceptional circumstances as described below, and, as such, are generally

March 4, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Texas

Texas Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Experts retained to provide trial testimony may be subject to deposition in Texas under Rule 190.3(b)(2) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The Rules of Civil Procedure generally do not provide guidance on how long any individual may be deposed, but does limit the total time for depositions of “parties on

March 4, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in California

California Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories As described in the following section, both parties to a case must disclose the identity of and other information regarding the expert witnesses they expect to call at trial upon demand by either party. Under Section 2034.410 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, any expert disclosed pursuant to that requirement may

March 4, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in New York

New York Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”) Section 3101(d)(1)(iii), depositions and interrogatories of experts (or any form of discovery other than that provided for in CPLR Section 3101(d)(1)(i), discussed below) are only available on a showing of special circumstances. A court will generally only find that special circumstances are

March 4, 2015

Expert Witness Rules, Laws and Procedure in Florida

Florida Rules Regarding Expert Witness Depositions and Interrogatories Under Rule 1.280(b)(5)(A)(iii) of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, any expert expected to provide testimony at trial may be deposed. There is no set time limit for depositions, but Rule 1.310(b)(3) provides that the court may expand or shorten the time allowed for taking a deposition for cause. Experts may not