JONES V KANEY

[2011] UKSC 13, Supreme Court, Lord Phillips, Lord Hope, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Lord Collins, Lord Kerr and Lord Dyson, 29 March 2011

Negligence - Expert witness - Whether expert witness entitled to immunity from suit

An expert witness is not immune from suit in negligence at the instance of the party who has instructed him. Therefore, where a doctor who is instructed as an expert to support a personal injury claim by the claimant negligently understates the claimant's symptoms, causing the claimant to settle for a sum far less than would otherwise have been the case, the doctor is liable to the claimant in damages. The decision was a majority one (Lords Phillips, Brown, Collins, Kerr and Dyson, Lord Hope and Lady Hale dissenting).