So you think nothing can be done to stop expert witnesses from the mercenary practice of excessive charges? Are you concerned that you will have to pay an expert $5,000 or more for an hour of her time in court? If you live in my state, Pennsylvania, you have cause for concern.
But in many states, the courts limit the fees paid to expert witnesses (including doctors). There is a significant body of law interpreting the term “reasonable fee” in the context of expert witness testimony. Our research of reported court cases from 1994 to 2001 did not reveal a single case approving an expert witness fee in excess of $400 per hour.
The range was from $250 an hour to $400 an hour for live testimony. The $400 rate was reached only after the parties stipulated to that number, with the court commenting that it would only have approved a rate of $220 per hour.
One case in Chicago, which set the expert witness fees in the $300 to $400 per hour range, has apparently now become standard practice in Cook County. The federal court in Baltimore restricts the hourly rate treating doctors can charge to $250.
The San Diego County Superior Court established a fee schedule for various expert witnesses. It states in part, “Excessive expert fees are limiting access to the court and undermining the quality of justice”. The fee schedule is as follows:
$250 — physicians, osteopaths, surgeons, dentists
$250 — attorneys
$200 — psychologists
$200 — economists
$200 — engineers, architects
$150 — chiropractors
MICA (Mutual Insurance Company of Arizona), the largest liability insurance carrier for Arizona physicians, hires more expert witness doctors than any other entity in Arizona. It imposes a $300 per hour cap on its testifying experts.
In Massechusetts, the court approved a rate of $375 per hour for a “prodigiously qualified” toxicologist. In Illinois, a psychiatrist’s fee was reduced from $600 to $250 per hour.
In Delaware, a pediatric neurologist’s fee for testimony was reduced from $1,200 for the first hour and $1,000 per hour thereafter to $1,100 for the first two hours and $300 per hour thereafter.
In Colorado, a senior attorney was permitted to charge no more than $235 per hour for his expert testimony. In Iowa, a motor vehicle aerodynamics expert’s charges were reduced from $500 to $250 per hour.
Experts should not be permitted to profiteer by gouging excessive fees from litigants who desperately need their testimony, and have no choice but to pay. It makes sense to cap expert fees to a reasonable amount. Caps help to bring litigation costs down, and that’s good for everyone.
Now if only the legislators in Harrisburg will consider this in the next round of “tort reform” battles ….
gotta love that lawyers are so grossly overpaid for 6 semesters of law school, but they (in the guise of so-called “judges,” who are merely lawyers in robes) can set the salary of others. Any non lawyer should be paid AT LEAST double their usual hourly fee for having to participate in this nonsense. Lawyers just don’t get that most normal people can’t be paid enough to participate in their expensive games. Lawyers who appear as “experts” should be paid less than anyone…it’s their game, afterall. All lawyers should be paid no more than nurses (similar amount of training). Then perhaps so many greedy asshats wouldn’t do the 6 big semesters of law school.
Comment by den — September 30, 2009 @ 5:56 am