The "Standard of Care" and Negligence of the Forensic Engineer

In the US, engineers serving as expert witnesses may be asked by any side in a dispute to provide opinion testimony concerning the performance of an engineer defendant. The expert witness may be asked what the “standard of care” of the profession was, and whether the defendant met or failed to meet that level of performance. The expert witness may also be the subject of such an inquiry, if the expert’s services are themselves questioned. This paper presents the concept of the standard of care, and describes how the services of a forensic engineer are measured relative to the standard of care. It also discusses the concept of immunity from negligence afforded to expert witnesses, and the current trend of erosion of that immunity.