Expert Witnesses in Kentucky
In Kentucky, an expert witness is a person who has scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge that will help the judge or jury understand evidence or decide a disputed fact.
Rules Governing Disclosure
Kentucky does not work exactly like federal Rule 26 automatic expert reports. In Kentucky, expert disclosure is generally driven by interrogatories, scheduling orders, and depositions rather than an automatic mandatory written expert report.
Under CR 26.02(4)(a), a party may use interrogatories to require the opposing party to disclose:
The identity of each expert witness expected to be called at trial;
The subject matter on which the expert is expected to testify;
The substance of the facts and opinions to which the expert is expected to testify; and
A summary of the grounds for each opinion.
Kentucky does not impose a general ongoing duty to supplement every discovery response. However, CR 26.05 preserves a duty to seasonably supplement expert-witness information when the discovery request is directed to the identity of testifying experts, the subject matter of their testimony, and the substance of that testimony.
Admissibility Standards
Kentucky adopted the Daubert reliability approach, where the Kentucky Supreme Court held that expert scientific testimony must be presented to the trial court and that the court must conduct a preliminary reliability assessment under Daubert.
Attorney–Expert Communication Protection
Attorney mental impressions and litigation strategy remain protected work product, but communications with a testifying expert may be discoverable to the extent they reveal the facts, data, assumptions, materials, or grounds underlying the expert’s opinions.
Compensation
Kentucky permits reasonable expert compensation, including hourly or flat-fee arrangements. A party-retained expert is generally paid by the party who calls or retains the expert, while court-appointed expert compensation is fixed and allocated by the court. When a party deposes another party’s retained expert, Kentucky CR 26.02(4)(c) generally requires the party taking the deposition to pay the expert a reasonable fee for the time spent responding to discovery, unless manifest injustice would result.
Limits on Number of Expert Witnesses
Kentucky does not set a general numerical limit on expert witnesses. A party may designate and call multiple experts, subject to disclosure requirements, scheduling orders, and the trial court’s authority to exclude or limit cumulative, duplicative, or unnecessarily time-consuming expert testimony.
Out-of-State Expert Qualification
An out-of-state expert may testify in Kentucky if the expert satisfies KRE 702’s qualification and reliability requirements. The expert need not be a Kentucky resident, and Kentucky does not appear to impose a general rule requiring the expert to hold a Kentucky professional license merely to testify as an expert.
