Biased and Irrational Expert

Pearce v Ovearup Partnership Ltd and others (Ch D LTL 8 November)

The claimant’s expert witness fell far short of the standards required by the court. He confused a trapezium for a triangle, failed to read an important document exhibited to his report and misread a drawing. He was so biased and irrational that he had failed to meet his duty to the court of objectivity as set out in CPR Part 35. Instead, he had come to argue the claimant’s case and ‘any point which might support that case, however flimsy, he took’. The expert, an architect, did not stand back and take an objective view. He bore a heavy responsibility for the case ever coming to trial, with its attendant cost, expense and waste of time. Although the CPR did not specify a sanction for breach by an expert of his duty under the rules, there was no reason why a judge should not, in an appropriate case, refer the matter to the expert’s professional body, in this case, the RIBA.