NJ Appeals Court Adopts Distinct Rule on Expert Witness Deferral

An expert witness who defers to another type of expert on a particular subject isn’t automatically disqualified from offering an opinion on the matter in medical malpractice cases, a state appeals court said.

Instead, a trial court must determine on a case-by-case basis whether the deferring expert was conceding that he wasn’t qualified to testify on the subject, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, said Dec. 5. The court refused to “endorse a blanket rule” that an expert witness’s acknowledgment of deference to an expert in a different specialty means he’s conceding a lack of qualifications to opine on ...