Cases - Reynolds v Manchester City Council

Record details

Name

Reynolds v Manchester City Council

Date

[1981]

Citation

257 Estates Gazette 939, LT

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

In a dispute over valuation of compensation for compulsory purchase, the Chairman of the Tribunal explained why he felt obliged to discount the evidence of the claimant's expert.

The claimant's expert

'... relied neither on comparables nor on his own experience in his evidence-in-chief and also in cross-examination [the expert] was explicit not only that he had never seen the subject property prior to its demolition but also that the figures appearing in his valuation had been adopted after discussion with [the claimant] ... This being the foundation of his valuation, I regret that I can attach no weight to [the expert's] evidence. Valuation is a matter of independent uninfluenced judgment. Opinion evidence given at second-hand is not really evidence at all.'

See also R v Balfour Beatty.