Discovery regarding expert witnesses is governed by Texas’s Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 192. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 192.3 (West 2017). This rule governs the scope of discovery and provides that anything that is not privileged and is relevant is discoverable. Id. In regard to experts specifically, the statute does not specifically outline that financial information is required to be disclosed during discovery. Id. Courts in Texas have denied the disclosure request of financial information of experts if they are “not necessary … to prove experts’ bias.” In re Ford Motor Co., 427 S.W.3d 396 (Tex. 2014). Further, while expert witnesses can be questioned regarding the amount of money they are paid to testify, the court can deny requests for a complete disclosure of an expert witness’s financial records to be used by the requesting party to impeach the witness. In re Weir, 166 S.W.3d 861 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005). In regard to an expert witness’s tax returns, the Court of Appeals in Texas has held that requiring disclosure of tax returns will “irreparably violated expert witness’ privacy,” particularly when the requesting party would not receive a benefit from seeing the tax returns. Olinger v. Curry, 926 S.W.2d 832 (Tex. Ct. App. 1996).

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