JUDICIARY EXPERTISE

Being a court-appointed expert is a delicate and fascinanting task, which starts when the magistrate appoints an engineer as a court expert. At first, it is important to go to the office of the court's clerks, and verify that there a no reasons for abstentions (such as no undergoing works or common interests between the expert and the parties; no pending suits or any other circumstances according to art. 63 of the Italian civil proceeding code, which could interfere). Once this is verified, the expert must take an oath in the court hearing. During the court hearing, all questions that the expert will need to answer are defined.

After that, the expert will have to study the civil suite documents and analyse the reasons for the dispute. The first expert operations, which are normally carried out in our office, are aimed at verifying whether an out-of-court settlement is possible. If this is the case, we draw up a settlement and send it to the magistrate. The magistrate's ratification of the settlement will be legally binding and the civil suite will be closed.

If no out-of-court settlement is possible, the expert operations will be carried out in the presence of the parties and will be aimed at examining the state of the disputed areas. In some cases, auxiliary technicians will be assigned the task to analyse materials, particular operations, or to ask public bodies for specific documents. In this phase, party-appointed technicians are crucial in order to help court-appointed experts.

Then, the expert report is drawn up and registered in the office of the court's expert, together with his/her expense account. If necessary, the court-appointed expert will intervene during the court hearing in order to explain or clarify some points. In case of criminal proceedings, the expert witness will take part to the hearing and will be examined about his/her findings. This phase is very important and delicate, as the expert will have to answer lawyers' questions. During the hearing, the magistrate will take into account the expert report and his/her conclusions (and findings). Therefore, the hearing will be the final phase of the expert witness' work.

If no problems arise, the magistrate will pay off the expert's expense account. At this point, his/her appointment ends from the administrative point of view.