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Practice Tip: 30 Days Before Trial — Testing Your Expert's Knowledge

By Lawrence Goldhirsch
May 01, 2003

In the March 2003 Practice Tip, I discussed two of those individuals with whom the trial lawyer should meet within the 30 days prior to trial: the client and the physician. This month's tip discusses meeting with the engineer. For ease of reference, all individuals are deemed male. For purposes of the discussion, the case concerns injury caused by a defective machine. When the lawyer prepares the engineering expert, the plaintiff should be present. There are several issues about which he must be prepared to testify:

How the Device Works

The expert must know how the device in question works. This will also test your expert's comprehensive knowledge of the device in general. Many experts come into court knowing why a device was defective but not really knowing how it worked in the first place. The expert must understand how the plaintiff alleges the accident occurred. An expert can quickly lose all of his credibility if he cannot explain how the device is designed to work or how the accident occurred. The expert must also explain, very clearly, why the device was defective. A design defect case is very difficult for a juror to understand, especially if the defect claimed is failure to properly warn.

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