By arboricultural consultant and accredited expert witness Mark Chester of Cedarwood Tree Care.
The role of the expert witness in advising on claims is a key element. Having an informed guide to give counsel on the merits of a case can ensure that wise decisions are taken either to pursue or defend a claim. What may surprise is that arboriculture, my own specialism, is unregulated. During my two decades as an Arboricultural Consultant, I have encountered evidence, sometimes quite limited being given undue merit, as those instructing are unaware of the limitations of the ‘expert’.
When I am instructed to review a case, a starting point is to explore existing evidence and its merit. I have found the term ‘expert’ being applied widely to individuals whose credentials are not thus. In one case, where a tree had broken and cased a road accident, the tree owner strongly defended their situation, and the condition of the tree, based on the opinion of their ‘tree expert’, who suggested inclement weather was the reason for the failure. It was when I explored further and found out the inclement weather was not in that locality, and the ‘expert’ was the individual who mowed the lawns and trimmed the trees, that the claim was recognised as having merit.
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