Chris Pamplin looks at the issues that can arise when a report written in contemplation of civil proceedings gets drawn into criminal proceedings
Is an expert witness obliged to hand over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) a report he had prepared for use in earlier civil proceedings? This was the question raised by an expert witness listed in the UK Register of Expert Witnesses recently. This article not only touches on the status of the report itself, but also on issues about the direct application of the contents of the civil report to the matters at issue in any criminal proceedings, and whether the expert was entitled to qualify some of the points contained in the original report.
Who owns the report?
It is usual for an expert report to belong to the party who paid for it, a position controlled by the expert’s contract. In the majority of cases this will be the original instructing solicitor, or his client. But, regardless of who holds the copyright, the report’s use in court proceedings will not breach that copyright.
If it
