a. Unless counsel agree that each party will pay its own experts, the party taking an expert witness's deposition ordinarily pays the expert's fees for the time spent in deposition and related travel. See L.R. 104.11.a. Accordingly, counsel for the party that designated the expert witness should try to assure that the fee charged by the expert to the party taking the deposition is fair and reasonable. In the event a dispute arises as to the reasonableness or other aspects of an expert's fee, counsel should promptly confer and attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute without the involvement of the Court. If counsel are unsuccessful, the expert's deposition should proceed on the date noted, unless the Court orders otherwise, and the dispute respecting payment should be brought to the Court's attention promptly. The factors that may be considered in determining whether a fee is reasonable include, but are not limited to: (1) the expert's area of expertise; (2) the expert's education and training; (3) the fee being charged to the party who designated the expert; and (4) the fees ordinarily charged by the expert for non-litigation services, such as office consultations with patients or clients.

b. Recognizing that a treating physician may be considered both a fact witness and an expert, the Court has chosen to impose a specific limitation on the fee a treating physician may charge to either party. It is implicit in L.R. 104.11.b, which requires counsel to estimate the hours of deposition time required, that the physician may charge a fee for the entire time he or she reserved in accordance with the estimate, even if counsel conclude the deposition early. Further, unless the physician received notice at least two business days in advance of a cancellation, the physician is entitled to be paid for any time reserved that cannot reasonably be filled. Every effort should be made to schedule depositions at a time convenient for the witness, and to use videotaped or other visually recorded de bene esse depositions rather than requiring the physician's presence at trial. Note that this Discovery Guideline does not limit the reasonable fee a treating physician may charge if required to testify in Court.

c. The parties are encouraged not to designate multiple experts on the same or similar topics.

d. Guideline 4.d is applicable to expert witness depositions.