§ 2034.470.Reasonableness of expert fees; motion for order setting compensation

An expert's demanded fee is not beyond challenge, and this section supplies the mechanism for testing it. A party who deems the expert's hourly or daily fee for deposition testimony unreasonable may move for an order setting the expert's compensation, with notice of the motion going to the expert as well as to the opposing party, since the outcome directly affects what the expert gets paid.

The motion must be backed by a meet-and-confer declaration under Section 2016.040, and the informal exchange behind that declaration has real substance to it: the party or the expert has to share proof of the fee the expert ordinarily charges and receives for similar work outside this litigation, how many times the presently demanded fee has ever been charged, and how often that fee has been charged within the two years before the hearing. The court's ultimate determination rests on that same evidence, the expert's customary fee outside the case and, for actions filed after January 1, 1994, the frequency data as well, along with fees charged by comparable experts in the relevant community and any other factor the court finds relevant. If the court finds the demanded fee unreasonable, it sets the fee itself. And as with other discovery motions in this chapter, a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 is mandatory against whoever loses the motion, unless that party acted with substantial justification or a sanction would otherwise be unjust.