Opinion ID: 2538237
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Convenience of the Expert Witnesses

Text: Plaintiff also notes her proposed expert witnesses live in New Orleans. We find the convenience of expert witnesses carries significantly less weight than the convenience of the parties and percipient witnesses for forum selection purposes. Though no court in this state has addressed the issue, courts of other jurisdictions have consistently reached this conclusion. See Houston Trial Reports, Inc. v. LRP Publications, Inc., 85 F.Supp.2d 663, 669 (S.D.Tex.1999)(the convenience of expert witness factors minimally in the forum selection analysis); Williams v. Bowman, 157 F.Supp.2d 1103, 1108 (N.D.Cal. 2001) (The convenience of expert witnesses, however, is given little weight.); Promuto v. Waste Management, Inc., 44 F.Supp.2d 628, 639-640 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)(All parties acknowledge that the convenience of expert witnesses is entitled to little weight, if any.) We find the policy rationale behind these decisions is sound. Litigants may employ any expert of their choosing. Therefore, if the convenience of expert witnesses were given a significant amount of weight in a forum non conveniens analysis, a plaintiff could assure a forum in any [location] in which jurisdiction could be obtained simply by employing counsel and a witness there. Anderson v. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., 411 Mich. 619, 309 N.W.2d 539, 543 (1981). Allowing forum shopping of this sort could severely undermine the principal goals of the forum non conveniens doctrine. Additionally, expert witnesses testify on behalf of one of the litigants. The convenience of the forum will have little effect on an expert's trial attendance, because litigants normally compensate expert witnesses for their time and travel expenses. Although expert witnesses may be inconvenienced by this travel, this generally does not affect their ability to appear at trial, as evidenced by the frequency with which parties retain expert witnesses from other states. See Hartz v. Indovina, 2009-967 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/27/10); 40 So.3d 253 (party retained expert witness from New York); Price v. Erbe USA, Inc., 2009-1076 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/9/10); 42 So.3d 985 (party retained witness from Tallahassee, Florida). Therefore, we find discounting the convenience of expert witnesses likely would not prejudice the litigant seeking the expert's testimony.