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England and Wales TCC guidance on replacing experts after solicitors’ impermissible interference with CPR 35 joint statement: factors for permission (Glover v Fluid Structural Engineers)

Published on: 24 June 2024

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert
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Article summary

Replacement of an expert witness following impermissible interference by solicitors (Glover and another v Fluid Structural Engineers & Technical Designers Ltd and others)

Glover and another v Fluid Structural Engineers & Technical Designers Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 1257 (TCC)

What are the practical implications of this case?

On the claimants’ own account, their solicitors were deeply involved in crafting the expert’s joint statement. Mr Lofthouse KC accepted that this interference arose from a misunderstanding rather than any wilful flouting of the governing principles, and the claimants acknowledged the conduct was improper. Paragraph 13.6.3 of the TCC Guide states clearly that a party in breach may, as occurred here, compromise its ability to rely upon its own expert’s views. Mr Lofthouse KC then addressed the claimants’ request to instruct a new expert. From that consideration, the following practical points can be drawn regarding applications to substitute experts:

  • the significance of the evidence to the dispute—here, structural engineering testimony was described as ‘central’, and without it the claimants might effectively have had no case...

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