Understanding the Role of Expert Witnesses In Lawsuits
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by: AnthonyArmand
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Watch CSI, Law and Order and the other police dramas on television and you'll never really see an expert testify in a case. In truth, expert witnesses often play a critical part in the outcome of trials.
A lawsuit is basically an argument. One side argues one position while the other side argues an opposing one. The court sets the rules in regard to the exact issues to be covered. Ah, but what happens if the issues are complex?
Expert witnesses play a subtle, but important role in litigation. They are used to explain the complex issues that arise in such a way as to make the information understandable to the average person sitting in a jury. Let's take a closer look.
Imagine we are in a trial involving a medical malpractice claim. Is a jury going to understand the steps of a surgical procedure? Not a chance. Experts will be needed to testify what normally happens and if it did in this case.
Criminal cases are where experts really come to the forefront. Testimony regarding evidence chain of custody and tests are customary. As we've seen on television, DNA evidence is where cases are made or broken.
All this being said, experts are not the gods of the courtroom. Why not? Since they are arguing opposite positions, they can actually become a push for jurors wherein neither is persuasive as we all saw in one famous case.
The battle of experts in the Simpson trial was classic. The prosecution experts testified Simpson's DNA was on various evidence, but the defense testified nobody could say how it got there. The jury ignored the DNA and acquitted him.
As the Simpson case shows, many lawsuits can end up as a battle of the experts. This really contradicts the purpose of experts wherein they are supposed to be helping the jury understand something instead of further clouding the issue.
At the end of the day, the expert witness is still an important player in the lawsuit process. Testimony prior to trial can even lead to resolutions early on. If it doesn't, jurors are still smart enough to figure out what is going on.
About the Author
Anthony Armand writes about psychiatric expert witness issues for PsychiatricExpertWitness.com. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
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