Terms of Use

Acceptance

trialwitness.com is published by Hartzer Consulting and made available on these terms. Using the site — reading it, quoting it, linking to it or writing through it — means accepting them. Anyone who does not accept them should not use the site.

These terms may be revised. The version in force is the one published here, and continued use after a revision is acceptance of the revised version.

What the site is, and what it is not

This is a general reference on expert witnesses, expert testimony and the admissibility framework governing opinion evidence. It describes rules, decisions, procedures and market structures in general terms.

It is not legal advice, and it is not an opinion on anyone’s matter. It does not take account of any reader’s facts, jurisdiction, procedural posture or scheduling order, all of which change the answer to nearly every question the site discusses. Rules of evidence and procedure differ between federal and state courts and between states, and they are amended; a page describes the position it states as of the date it states, and no further.

Nothing here should be relied on as a substitute for advice from counsel admitted in the relevant jurisdiction and familiar with the matter.

No engagement and no confidential relationship

Reading this site creates no engagement, no retention and no professional or confidential relationship with Hartzer Consulting or with anyone associated with it.

Sending a message through the contact page does not create one either. An engagement arises only where a conflict check has cleared and terms have been agreed in writing. Until that has happened, material sent to this publisher is not protected by any such relationship, and confidential, privileged or protected-order material should not be sent.

Copyright and permitted use

The text, structure, design and original graphics of this site are the property of Hartzer Consulting, except for quoted material identified as coming from another source.

Reasonable quotation is permitted and welcome. A passage may be quoted in a brief, a memorandum, an article, a paper or a post with attribution to trialwitness.com and, where the medium allows, a link to the page quoted. What is not permitted is wholesale reproduction: copying a page or a substantial part of one, republishing the material as another site’s content, or presenting it as anyone else’s work.

Quoted rule text, statutory text and judicial opinions reproduced here are government works and carry no such restriction. The selection, arrangement and commentary around them do.

Accuracy, currency and sources

Considerable care goes into the accuracy of what is published here, including checking holdings against opinions and effective dates against rule text. That care is not a warranty. Material may contain errors, may become out of date as rules are amended and decisions are issued, and may describe a split of authority that has since resolved.

Where a figure comes from a third-party survey or study, the publisher, date, sample and method are stated so that the figure can be assessed. Those figures are reproduced as reported; their accuracy is the responsibility of the organizations that produced them, and this site’s description of their limitations is itself an editorial judgment.

Corrections are welcome and will be checked against primary sources.

External links

Links to rule text, opinions, statutes, committee materials and studies are provided so that a reader can check what is stated here against the source. Those destinations are operated by others. This publisher does not control them, is not responsible for their content or availability, and does not endorse anything on them beyond the specific material cited.

Links to this site are welcome and require no permission, provided the link does not misrepresent the relationship between the two sites or imply an endorsement that does not exist.

No warranty

This site is made available as it is, without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement. No warranty is given that the site will be available without interruption, that it will be free of errors, or that any defect will be corrected.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hartzer Consulting is not liable for any loss or damage arising from use of this site or from reliance on anything published on it, including any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or special loss, and including loss said to arise from an action taken or not taken on the basis of material here.

Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Acceptable use

The site may not be used in any way that interferes with its operation or with anyone else’s use of it. That includes attempting to gain unauthorized access to any part of the site or its hosting infrastructure, transmitting malicious code, and imposing an unreasonable load through automated requests.

Ordinary indexing by search engines is expected and welcome. Bulk scraping for republication is not, and neither is any use of the material to create the impression that this publisher endorses a product, service, expert or business.

General

If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the remainder continues in force. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.

These terms, the privacy policy and the disclaimer together describe the basis on which this site is published. Questions about them can be sent through the contact page.