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Liability Exposure When Experts Flub<br><font size="-1"><b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i></font>

By Michael Hoenig
February 01, 2017

Editor's note: Last month, the author began discussion of the consequences of retaining an expert witness who errs on the stand. Should the expert be subject to lawsuit for damages? Could the attorney who hired him/her be held liable? The analysis concludes here.

What is the true relationship of a law firm and retained experts? The court in Forensis Group, Inc. v. Frantz, Townsend & Foldenauer, 2005 Cal. App. LEXIS 929 (Cal. App. 4th Dist., June 9, 2005) (discussed in Part One of this article) stated (citing a treatise) that the duty of an attorney who hires an expert witness is to “make sure that the expert, particularly the inexperienced expert, understands the governing legal principles and elements that each party to the litigation must prove in order to prevail.”

Further, an expert “is not a mechanical toy that can simply be wound up and turned loose. Regardless of the expert's skill, it is the lawyer's responsibility to make sure that his or her expertise is presented to the trier of fact in an admissible and persuasive way. To accomplish this task, the lawyer needs to understand the substantive details of the expert's testimony and field of expertise.” Forensis Group, 2005 Cal. App. LEXIS 929, at *35-*36.

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