Reasonable people can disagree, but we often agree with Plaintiffs’ counsel that each side will pay their own experts. If this agreement cannot be reached, however, Maryland Rule 2-402(g)(3) requires opposing counsel to pay your expert’s reasonable time and travel expenses incurred to attend a deposition.
So what happens when you’re dealing with unreasonable Plaintiffs? In a recent case, opposing counsel would not agree to pay their own experts, but also tried to avoid paying the fees to depose our expert. In their sneaky attempt to circumvent Rule 2-402, Plaintiffs served our out-of-state expert with a Maryland subpoena compelling her to return to Maryland for deposition, at our expense.
That won’t fly with legal teams that know better. We successfully quashed the subpoena and obtained an Order from the Court requiring Plaintiffs to pay all reasonable travel fees and time for the expert’s deposition. Alternatively, Plaintiffs could travel to our expert, at their own expense, or depose her via videoconferencing or telephone.
Bottom line: it was Plaintiffs’ choice to depose the witness and thus their burden to bear the cost. Don’t let the Plaintiffs have their cake and eat it, too!