What are the Requirements for Expert Witness Disclosure in Nevada?

When you need to disclose expert witnesses in Las Vegas injury cases, the first place to look is Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure, (usually shortened to “NRCP”) Rule 16.1.  Rule 16.1 provides in part:

RULE 16.1.  MANDATORY PRETRIAL DISCOVERY REQUIREMENTS
(a) Required Disclosures.  (2) Disclosure of Expert Testimony.

                   (A) In addition to the disclosures required by paragraph (1), a party shall disclose to other parties the identity of any person who may be used at trial to present evidence under NRS 50.275, 50.285 and 50.305.

                   (B) Except as otherwise stipulated or directed by the court, this disclosure shall, with respect to a witness who is retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve giving expert testimony, be accompanied by a written report prepared and signed by the witness. The court, upon good cause shown or by stipulation of the parties, may relieve a party of the duty to prepare a written report in an appropriate case. The report shall contain a complete statement of all opinions to be expressed and the basis and reasons therefor; the data or other information considered by the witness in forming the opinions; any exhibits to be used as a summary of or support for the opinions; the qualifications of the witness, including a list of all publications authored by the witness within the preceding 10 years; the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony; and a listing of any other cases in which the witness has testified as an expert at trial or by deposition within the preceding four years.
 

So, what has to be given to the other side as part of the expert disclosure?  First and foremost, you must prepare what is called a Notice of Expert Witnesses.  Here, you list each expert witness, providing their name, address and telephone number and a brief description of what they will be providing expert testimony on in your case. In addition to this factual information, you must provide four separate documents. 

The first document that must be turned over to the other side, is the expert’s report. The report must state all conclusions and topics on which you plan to have your expert testify to at trial. This is very important. If your expert does not discuss something in their report, they are barred from testifying to it at trial, absent court order.

The next item is the expert’s curriculum vitae i.e. resume or CV for short. Their CV must state all of their education and work history, together with any publications they have authored in the past 10 years. In addition to the report and CV, your personal injury attorney will have to disclose the expert’s fee schedule, which list how much they get paid per hour, whether that is in preparing the expert report, sitting for a deposition or testifying at trial. The final document that must be produced is your expert’s case testimony list. This case testimony list must list all deposition and trial testimony the expert has provided in the prior 4 years.

Rule 16.1 goes on to state that this initial expert disclosure must be made on or before 90 days before the cut-off of discovery. Any rebuttal experts must be disclosed to the other side 30 days after the initial expert disclosure was made. Of course, your injury attorney will have your experts lined up well before the expert disclosure deadline, to make sure they have plenty of time to review all of relevant case documents and prepare their report.

Next time, we will discuss disclosure of damages in Nevada court cases.