Witness Statements June 26, 2009
Posted by Richard Moorhead in : Costs, Jackson Review, Uncategorized , trackbackThe requirements to exchange witness statements and the norm that they should stand as evidence I chief comes in for some critique, partly for reasons other than costs (there is speculation they may be associated with witness ‘training’ (coaching), para. 3.9, page 404) but partly because cases often settle after witness statements are prepared but before their main expected benefits are realized (i.e. between exchange and trial, para. 3.4, page 403). The concerns seem to centre on larger commercial and negligence cases, rather than more routine cases (para 4.2, page 404-5). Various possible reforms are canvassed (para. 6.2 onwards, page 406):
- more rigorous enforcement of the Woolf ethos demanding concision and relevance;
- tying statements to a judicially defined list of issues;
- replacing witness statements with witness summaries;
- confining witness statements to matters not contained in documents; and,
- limiting the length of witness statements.
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