Expert Witnesses

Expert witnesses, also known as professional witnesses, provide expert information about the subject of their expertise in courtrooms for trials. An expert becomes an expert by virtue of education, training, skill, or a certain level of experience. Experts are thought to have attained knowledge of a particular subject beyond that which the ordinary person would have.

The knowledge attained by an expert is expected to be sufficient that others may officially and legally rely upon the witness' specialized opinion about the evidence or facts presented that are within the scope of their expertise. The opinions given are referred to as the expert opinions and are supposed to assist the fact-finder. The fact-finder is usually the jury but may, in a bench trial, be a judge.

In addition to providing expert opinions, experts can present expert evidence. This evidence pertains to facts from the domain of their expertise. Sometimes, the opinions and evidence presented by an expert can be rebutted with a learned treatise. In rare cases, this can be a detriment to the reputation of the expert.

Expert witnesses can be put on stand in a civil case. This allows them to be questioned by both the lawyers representing the defendant and the plaintiff. During this testimony, the expert is required to give a professional opinion of what happened and whether that was sufficient.

In medical malpractice cases, expert witnesses are frequently other doctors in the same field as the doctor who is being accused of malpractice. The doctor serving as a witness will have more knowledge about what actually happened and be able to testify as to whether it was sufficient. In addition, the doctor on the stand will have more knowledge about what the standard of care is that doctors practice in a certain procedure.

In most cases, experts are relied upon for opinions pertaining to the severity of an injury, the degree of a person's insanity, the reason that there was failure in a machine or other device, how much a person could expect to have made and there for the loss of earnings, the cost of care, and other similar items.

In addition to expert witnesses retained by the lawyers in a case, a judge can sometimes call experts to evaluate a fact or action technically. This is a judge's way of obtaining complete knowledge on the fact or action that it is expected to judge. When the judge calls in an expert to cover a certain topic, the opinions provided there are then compared to the evidence provided by the lawyers' experts.

Habush, Habush, & Rottier, S.C. is a full service Milwaukee personal injury firm dedicated to providing expert representation to all of their clients.

Joseph Devine