Anyone involved in business litigation or a business litigation attorney who practices in this area has been faced with an opponent who lists several expert witnesses on their expert witness designation. The statute requires each side to list the experts they intend on calling at trial. In this designation, each attorney is required to give a general description of the testimony each listed expert will provide.
Often times an attorney will list experts whose opinions overlap. The problem is the other side will be forced to take these depositions and will be required to pay the experts stated hourly rate. By listing multiple experts is often times designed to place financial pressure on the opponent.
When faced with this problem, the business litigation attorney must promptly move for a protective order. This is an order where you ask the court to force the other side to limit their expert witnesses.
California Evidence Code section 723, states :“the court may, at any time before or during the trial of an action, limit the number of expert witnesses to be called by any party.”
This rule was also discussed in South Bay Chevrolet v. General Motors Acceptance Corp. (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 861, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 301 where the court stated that on this record, the trial court acted within its discretion in excluding the second expert witness’s testimony as cumulative. As the court properly observed, South Bay’s designation of expert witnesses indicated the scope of the second expert witness’s anticipated testimony was a ‘duplicate’ of the subject matter covered by the first expert witness.
Even when not identical a “second expert will be excluded if ‘there’s a substantial overlap’ in the two experts’ testimony and that the second expert’s testimony would be covering ground already covered by the first expert witness.” Cases have held the “court in its discretion may limit the number of witnesses who may be called upon to testify with reference to a single question, as here, and the court can refuse to receive evidence which is purely cumulative.”
Robert G. Klein, Esq. is a Los Angeles trademark attorney, business litigation attorney lawyer and a Los Angeles business lawyer who specializes in trademark infringement, copyright infringement, business torts, breach of contract actions and unfair competition. He feels it is important to hire a Los Angeles trademark lawyer and a Los Angeles business lawyer if one is involved in litigation in that locale. Robert G. Klein is a prominent Los Angeles business attorney and is available for consultation on matters involving trademark infringement, copyright infringement, breach of contract cases, business torts, fraud, and business law matters. He has successfully obtained many multi-million dollar jury verdicts. Many of Mr. Klein’s court decisions have been published as case authority and he has appeared before the United States Supreme Court for oral argument. Mr. Klein has also published “Consumer List: Trade Secret or Fair Game?”, which is an article published in the Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine. Los Angeles trademark infringement attorney Robert G. Klein can be reached at (213) 996-8508 or visit our web site at http://www.kleinlitigation.com
