Expert Witness / Court Expert
CAS Experts are court experts registered on the lists of common courts in Poland. As the CAS Team, we are appointed as an institutional expert by several common courts in Poland. Our experts also serve as Expert Witnesses in proceedings before arbitration courts. We prepare expert opinions for many construction contracts in such sectors as industry, energy infrastructure, road and railway infrastructure, and building construction.
A court expert is a specialist appointed by a common or arbitration court (sometimes also by the prosecutor’s office or other law enforcement authorities) whose task is to issue an opinion in a case requiring specialist knowledge. In other words, when the court needs help from an expert in a given field, it turns to the expert to analyze the evidence and present their professional assessment.
Key information about a court expert:
- Is not a party to the proceedings; their role is to objectively assess the facts based on their knowledge and experience.
- The expert’s opinion often has a significant impact on the case outcome – it can be one of the key pieces of evidence.
- Experts can be included on the list of court experts maintained by the president of a district court, but not always – the court can also appoint an expert who is not on this list.
A court expert in the field of construction is an expert who has specialist knowledge and experience in the design, execution, supervision, or operation of construction facilities. Such an expert is appointed by the court when a case involves technical issues that require construction expertise.
What does a court expert in construction do?
Typical issues assessed by a court expert in the field of construction and engineering:
- Analysis of the causes of delays in the implementation of a project/contract
- Analysis of additional costs related to the execution of a project/contract (additional works, prolongation costs, valorization, etc.)
- Analysis of technical issues, including defects and faults in the performance of the contract
Characteristics of a court expert’s opinion:
- Independence
- Objectivity
- Impartiality
- Freedom from pressure from the parties to the dispute (the expert is not an attorney nor a subcontractor of any party)
- Completeness and appropriateness (and an obligation to supplement the opinion if previously unknown circumstances come to light)
- Credibility
- Verifiability
- Consistency
- Conclusions and opinions as the authentic professional position of the author
- Clarity and comprehensibility (the expert explains complex matters in an accessible way for non-specialists)
The essential part of a court expert’s opinion includes:
- Description of the assignment
- Presentation and discussion of the facts
- Methods and sources of knowledge used by the author
- Presentation of the author’s approach
- Independent factual findings (calculations, analyses, research)
- Presentation of logical and consistent reasoning
- Conclusions and opinions
Formal requirements
- Indication of the authorship and the competencies/qualifications of the authors
- Statements on the independence of the author
- Statement/assurance of correctness (completeness) of the opinion
Sample descriptions of completed projects and successes can be found in the CASE STUDIES section.