Cases - Rollinson v Kimberley Clark Ltd

Record details

Name

Rollinson v Kimberley Clark Ltd

Date

[1999]; [2000]

Citation

Times Law Reports 22 June, CA; CP Rep 85

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

The Court of Appeal dismissed Kimberley Clark's appeal against a judge's refusal to vacate a court hearing date for trial of a personal injury claim by one of the company's employees. The defendant's application came in February 1999 to vacate a June 1999 trial date, due to the unavailability of its second medical expert witness. The court held that:

'... if it ever was acceptable ... it is certainly no longer acceptable when a trial date is bound to be fairly imminent, for a solicitor to seek to instruct an expert witness without checking and discovering his availability, or proceed to instruct him when there is no reasonable prospect of his being available for another year. The check having been made and the experts' availability in the near future being in doubt, then a different expert should be instructed'.