Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Blogging Experts and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26:
More on the law of blogging -- a reader asks whether under [1]Rule 26
of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (emphasis added), experts have
to disclose all the blog posts they've posted in their area of
experties:
(2) Disclosure of Expert Testimony.
(A) In addition to the disclosures required by paragraph (1), a
party shall disclose to other parties the identity of any person
who may be used at trial to present evidence under Rules 702, 703,
or 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.
(B) Except as otherwise stipulated or directed by the court, this
disclosure shall, with respect to a witness who is retained or
specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or whose
duties as an employee of the party regularly involve giving expert
testimony, be accompanied by a written report prepared and signed
by the witness. The report shall contain a complete statement of
all opinions to be expressed and the basis and reasons therefor;
the data or other information considered by the witness in forming
the opinions; any exhibits to be used as a summary of or support
for the opinions; the qualifications of the witness, including a
list of all publications authored by the witness within the
preceding ten years; the compensation to be paid for the study and
testimony; and a listing of any other cases in which the witness
has testified as an expert at trial or by deposition within the
preceding four years.
My quick guess is that blog posts need not be disclosed, unless they
are detailed enough to form part of the witness's "qualifications"
(which is highly unlikely, though a post that's as detailed as a
scholarly article might qualify). The requirement, after all, is not
simply to disclose all publications, but to disclose "the
qualifications of the witness, including a list of all publications."
Yet I'm no civil procedure expert, so I can't be positive. If you have
actual knowledge about this legal question (and not just speculation
about the text, or opinions on what the law should be), please do post
about it in the comments. Again, though, please limit this to specific
legal knowledge that you have on the subject. I don't mean to be a
martinet about this, but that's the way comments on such posts can be
really useful.
References
1. http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule26.htm
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
