78B-1-152 - Witnesses -- Prohibition of expert witness contingent fees in civil actions.
78B-1-152. Witnesses -- Prohibition of expert witness contingent fees in civilactions.
(1) As used in this section, "contingent fee agreement" means an agreement for theprovision of testimony or other evidence and related services by an expert witness in a civilaction that specifies:
(a) the payment of compensation to the expert witness for the testimony, other evidence,and services is contingent, in whole or in part, upon a judgment being rendered in favor of theplaintiff or defendant in a civil action, upon a favorable settlement being obtained by the plaintiffor defendant in a civil action, or upon the plaintiff in a civil action being awarded in a judgmentor settlement damages in at least a specified amount; and
(b) upon satisfaction of the contingency described in Subsection (1)(a), the compensationto be paid to the expert witness is in a fixed amount or an amount to be determined by a specifiedformula, including, but not limited to, a percentage of a judgment rendered in favor of theplaintiff or a percentage of a favorable settlement obtained by the plaintiff.
(2) A plaintiff or defendant in a civil action may not engage an expert witness by meansof a contingent fee agreement unless approval is sought and received from the court.
(3) An expert witness may be engaged by the plaintiff or defendant on the contingencythat the expert actually qualify as an expert. Once the witness is qualified as an expertSubsection (2) applies to his continued participation in the action.
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 3, 2008 General Session