Expert witness requirements pass Missouri Senate

The first bill to pass in the Missouri Senate this session would tighten the courtroom guidelines for expert testimony - a first step, Republican lawmakers said Thursday, toward meaningful tort reform.

Senators approved the bill 20-10 and sent it to the House for review.

Under the proposal, courts would only admit expert testimony after determining it was based on "sufficient facts" and "reliable principles and methods." Missouri judges currently admit expert testimony if it's based on facts "reasonably relied upon by experts in the field."

The proposal wouldn't apply to juvenile courts or family courts, which handle adoption and divorce cases. It also would bar expert witnesses in criminal cases from attributing a defendant's actions to his or her mental state.

Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Parson said it'll ensure expert witnesses are actually experts and are testifying about facts, not opinions. Federal courts and most states already use that standard, the Bolivar Republican said.

Parson, who is running for lieutenant governor, touted the speed at which the Senate passed the legislation; the session began Jan. 6.

"It's probably one of the first times under the leadership of the Senate that we've got tort reform out that quick," Parson said.

Ray McCarty, the president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri, which lobbies for pro-business legislation, said this bill would require experts to base their testimony on more than just opinion. "This actually puts some criteria in place that would help judges review whether a person's an expert or not," he said.

Opponents say the measure would increase costs for litigants and courts.

Farmington Sen. Gary Romine, one of two Republicans to vote against the proposal, said judges in smaller districts don't have clerks to help them with the extra work of vetting witnesses' testimony. That's the lawyers' job, he said.

"If you're worth a grain of salt as an attorney, your cross-examination would be the opportunity to dispel the quality of the supposedly expert witness," he said.

The price of calling an expert witness could triple under this bill, said Sharon Geuea Jones, the deputy director of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys.

Experts prepare for a trial by taking notes on the case and then putting together a final report that's submitted as evidence, she said. The bill, she added, would require experts to prepare their notes to a high enough standard - pointing to, for example, research to back up testimony in skilled fields like law enforcement and banking - so they're admissible as evidence.