Court

First, are you already designated as an expert witness? If not, contact the attorney and get designated.

Next, only answer with answers you KNOW to be fact, no conjecture.

Then, (actually before you testify) set up a fee schedule with the attorney and client. $150/hour sounds good to me, portal to portal and add mileage if it's further than your home parish.

Don't let the other guy rile you up.

Oh, are you going to cut your hair for this event? If so donate to locks of love, you have plenty of it. 🙂

I have always doubled my rate and charged a minimum of four hours for local or a full day for those in the next county. This is easily explained as having to do research prior to the court appearance. I've never had an attorney complain, however, it's not their money that they are spending.

I charge the normal rate for the attorney meetings prior to the court appearance.

I think most do something similar in Oklahoma.

Dan, for the meeting with the client and lawyer, I don't know. Depends on the relationship you have with the client. Did you know this was going to court beforehand? Were you charging the client accordingly beforehand? As for the expert testimony what I do is charge an hourly fee. A HIGH hourly fee. I set it at a minimum of 4 hours and payment is due before I leave the court house. You don't know.
You might not be called. You might sit around all day before you're called.

I tell them to make sure they have their check book with them that day. And don't feel bad about getting at least 50% of your fee in advance, either.

Have fun, and good luck. 🙂

Take care,
Ed

I advise my clients that I will bill by the day (not the hour) for any day on which I am expected to be ready to testify. Quite often the attorneys will say "be ready Monday," meaning you may or may not be on the stand that day. Or they may settle everything at the last minute and you won't testify at all. Meanwhile you're all dressed up and probably somewhat antsy and unable to accomplish much else.

Thanks Kris, and no, just a trim.

Thanks Deral, sound advise.

Thanks, good points.

Dan, for the meeting with the client and lawyer, I don't know. Depends on the relationship you have with the client. Did you know this was going to court beforehand? Were you charging the client accordingly beforehand? As for the expert testimony what I do is charge an hourly fee. A HIGH hourly fee. I set it at a minimum of 4 hours and payment is due before I leave the court house. You don't know.
You might not be called. You might sit around all day before you're called.

I tell them to make sure they have their check book with them that day. And don't feel bad about getting at least 50% of your fee in advance, either.
Client relationship as well as attorney relationship is good. Client is from the New Orleans area, a Katrina victim, and we both speak "Yat".

I knew there was a chance of it going to court, but I thought it would be resolved, like most of these matters. It has been nearly 5 years since this started.
Thanks for the advise.

Dan, Sounds like you'll be embarking on a new adventure! Grab hold of the opportunity to pay attention to every detail you can. Most of all, learn their rules and you'll be one step ahead of the game.

I presume that you'll be testifying as a expert witness. This can't be assumed by you, however. There are two types of witnesses: lay witness and expert witness. The rules are entirely different for each. The lay witness, as Kris alluded can, "only answer with answers you KNOW to be fact, no conjecture." An expert witness, however, can testify as to their opinion, even in the ultimate issue before the court as in, "where is the boundary?"

Your client's lawyer should have designated you on a witness list as either a lay witness or an expert. If you're a lay witness, there's no sense worrying about you payment. The state legislature will have take care of that for you. Somewhere around $18 per day is the normal rate. Usually the same as the Jury. As an expert the rules are specifically written as to how you formulate your opinion, how you document your opinion in a report, and how you testify regarding your opinion. It also designate who pays you for your time, some parts being paid for by both parties. You need to know who to send the bill to and when. Read the rules until you understand them.

Some of the LA rules are found in:

Art. 1425. Experts; pretrial disclosures; scope of discovery

(2) Nothing in this Article shall preclude opposing counsel from obtaining any facts or data the expert is relying on in forming his opinion, including that coming from counsel, or from otherwise inquiring fully of an expert into what facts or data the expert considered, whether the expert considered alternative approaches, or into the validity of the expert's opinions.

It would appear that if you're scheduled for trial on Friday, the attorneys have already short-cut the process and saved their clients lots of money by not requiring you to prepare a report, attend the depositions, and to properly formulate your opinion based upon the facts that will be presented at trial. They've likely decided, instead, to roll their client's dice and just guess at what they think you'll say and be blindsided by the evidence you present in court.

Know one thing: they'll be presenting a lot of evidence which you likely, (1) have never seen or heard before, and (2) may change your opinion regarding the boundary location once you see and hear all of the evidence. Be open to the idea now. Evidence is what opinions are based upon. You based yours on the evidence you had at the time you made your survey. When you are confronted by new evidence (which should not be happening at the trial, but they've forced you to), you need to consider the evidence and be prepared to explain why you regarded it or disregarded it in the formulation of your opinion.

The judge will be looking to you for direction on what evidence is important and why it's important. He's trying to learn how to survey in a two-hour short course that you will be presenting on the witness stand.

Did I say, "don't forget to have fun?" I've always said, "there's nothing like the thrill of cross-examination!"

JBS

All good advice.

I charge $1,500/day, with a half day minimum for consultation. You will potentially be experiencing more than 8 hour days depending on where the court will sit.

Remember to address your answers to the judge. Keep eye contact with the attorney questioning you, it helps to understand them better. Review with the attorney handling your side of the case how much they want you to answer. As an expert you do have latitude beyond 'yes/no" but check with your attorney on how much! Make sure that you have developed the questions necessary to get your evidence in. Sometimes attorney's don't know the right questions.

The judge/jury wants to hear what you have to say. Be honest, open, and non-hostile, no matter what the opposing attorney's attitude is like. You don't have a dog in this fight. Make sure that your counsel has an updated resume and can qualify you as an expert. Lack of prior testimony experience may be an arguing point for the opposing side.

Dress respectfully, address the court respectfully..

Do NOT hesitate to ask the attorney to repeat or re-phrase the question. Do NOT answer any question that you are unsure of what is being asked. CLARIFY!!!

Good luck.. and get at least 1/2 up front, if not all....

Thanks JB, I appreciate it very much.

What I can say, so far, is that this is a dispute between family members, something along the lines of third or fourth cousins.
I have not performed any boundary surveys for this, other than recon.
It is not about where a boundary is, it is about possession of a tract.
I will try and be more specific as the issue is closed.
Thanks again,
DSM

Thanks Don.

Ditto the minimum fees.....there will be postponements and other delays.

You could get called down to court just to sit all morning until they adjourn for the day.

Or you may show up and find out the judge has been asked to do other case work that day.

And on and on.

Each time you have to show up, there should be a fee.

Good luck Daniel... I do not envy you.

Just one other thought Dan. It's probably a good idea to sit down and think through all the scenarios and write up an official pay schedule so you will be consistent if you wind up in more of these.

Something simple but clear and maybe even as a contract that you can fax prior to any such meetings or court appearances. Just so all parties understand their obligations.

Good luck on Friday. These can be fun but stressful depending on the attorneys.

I've always had to counsel ours on 'what questions' to ask so that the important information could get into the record. I think in many of the court cases we read a lot of important stuff gets left out and they resort to fighting over some tidbit that might not even be important to the issue.

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Two things that suprised me when I went to court. If you are the expert for them, you can sit in on all the trial if you want. I thought you had to sit out in the hallway but you don't. If it is not a jury trial, the judge can ask you questions. Most of these misconceptions I got from watching T.V.

Don't be evasive. After I watched another surveyor testify, it is SO OBVIOUS when you are trying not to answer a question, don't play that game. It's O.K. to say "I don't know".

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