Experts Permitted To Testify Via Telephone… Sometimes

The Environmental Review Tribunal has granted a request to have expert witnesses testify via telephone conference call when the appellants argued that it would be too costly to have them attend in person, and that videoconferencing was also costly, as well as prone to technological failure.

In Pitt v. Director, Ministry of the Environment, 2014 CarswellOnt 3093 (which was ultimately dismissed) the appellants in an anti-wind appeal sought to have two experts on skydiving testify via telephone conference call because they resided in Great Britain and the U.S. The appellants also argued that due to the technical nature of the evidence to be given by these witnesses, assessing their demeanour (one of the main justifications for normally requiring witnesses to testify in person) would also be less important.