What Goes Around, Comes Around: Defendants Entitled to Discovery of Finances of Professional Expert Witnesses for Plaintiffs

Proving that the Cooper v. Schoffstall rule that a party may discover information on the litigation-related activity and compensation earned by a professional witness also applies to expert witnesses retained by Plaintiffs, Judge Patricia E. Coonahan of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas granted a Defendant's motion to compel in this regard in the case of Gaffney v. Cohen, No. 2012-15440 (C.P. Montg. Co. June 22, 2015 Coonahan, J.).

The Gaffney decision is by Order only.  The court ruled that the Defendant could proceed by way of a deposition by written interrogatories to gather information on how much the Plaintiff's expert was being paid for his services in the case at hand, as well as on a variety of other financial bias topics dating back three years.

Notably, the court allowed such interrogatories to be submitted not only to the expert the Plaintiff listed as a trial witness but also to those other experts who offered opinions upon which the trial expert relied.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this Order may contact me at dancummins@Comcast.net.

I send thanks to the prevailing defense attorney Anthony Damiano from Exton, PA for providing me with a copy of this decision.