I would like to suggest that the Atlantic Provinces Trial Lawyers Association (APTLA)\u00a0hold a conference on cost control in civil litigation as it\u00a0involves scientific and engineering\u00a0experts.\u00a0 At the very least, include a session in one of\u00a0the conferences held annually in the Atlantic provinces.<\/p>\n
Confront the elephant in the room<\/em> –\u00a0the\u00a0fees that an expert must charge to determine the cause of an injury or failure in the built environment and how this impacts the cost of litigation, including the worth of the file.<\/p>\n I thought this when I looked at the program for the conference scheduled for Halifax this November, “It’s all Wrongful: Death, Dismissal, Conviction & More”.\u00a0\u00a0There’s a\u00a0session on technical issues but nothing to indicate if this refers to scientific and engineering matters or just practical issues to do with all that is wrongful.<\/p>\n A description of the conference\u00a0mentions “damages”, “a lawyer’s guide to calculation of future losses” and\u00a0“quantifying the priceless” suggests that money is\u00a0an important theme in the conference.\u00a0 It would be good if the calculating and quantifying considered an expert’s fees – money too, with input from an expert on these.\u00a0\u00a0An expert’s\u00a0fees can whittle away at the\u00a0award for damages – particularly in the smaller cases, if costs are not managed properly<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Ontario Advocates Society recognize affluent<\/em> and less affluent<\/em> cases.\u00a0 Presumably, big cases with big damages and smaller ones with less.\u00a0\u00a0Most of the civil litigation cases involving the built environment in Atlantic Canada are small, not big,\u00a0and not always well funded.\u00a0 Yet\u00a0most require\u00a0a thorough\u00a0forensic engineering investigation to ensure a reliable opinion – with attendant expert fees, some fairly substantial.<\/p>\n (An expert’s fees are comparable to a lawyer’s fees in Atlantic Canada because we\u00a0need\u00a0about the same\u00a0number of years of education and\u00a0experience to do our work.\u00a0 Also because\u00a0we assume similar levels of responsibility to\u00a0the justice system\u00a0in what we do and report.\u00a0 At the end of the day, many cases don’t go\u00a0forward properly <\/em>until the expert’s work is done)<\/p>\n The cost of civil litigation can be managed.\u00a0 I’ve identified some methods that are – if you don’t mind, no brainers.\u00a0 Addressing when<\/em> an expert is retained and how<\/em> are two.<\/p>\n There are other methods\u00a0that need dialogue between lawyers and experts to implement properly.<\/p>\n Or dialogue about whether to implement some methods\u00a0at all.\u00a0 Like managing investigation of all the technical issues identified by the lawyer based on his\/her knowledge of the legal issues. Plus<\/em> the issues identified\u00a0by the expert based on his knowledge of what needs to be done to investigate the problem.\u00a0 A lot of technical issues might be on the table after lawyer and expert take their turns identifying these.<\/p>\n Do we investigate all the technical issues or just some or just one?\u00a0 How few can we investigate – to keep costs down –\u00a0and still meet both the standards of the legal profession and the expert’s profession?<\/p>\n These civil litigation cost management methods and questions need dialogue <\/em>not just blogging.\u00a0 Blogging can bring the elephant into focus but lawyers and experts talking together will wrestle him into submission – and better cost control of civil litigation.\u00a0 We could begin to\u00a0do this together in\u00a0an APTLA conference session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I would like to suggest that the Atlantic Provinces Trial Lawyers Association (APTLA)\u00a0hold a conference on cost control in civil litigation as it\u00a0involves scientific and engineering\u00a0experts.\u00a0 At the very least, include a session in one of\u00a0the conferences held annually in … Continue reading