Instructing a Warranty Claim Expert Witness: Avoiding the Inspired Education Pitfalls
Drafting the Letter of Instruction
The letter of instruction must be consistent with standard market value definitions. Inspired Education v Crombie [2025] demonstrates that improper instructions fatally undermine expert evidence regardless of technical quality.
Instructions should identify the specific warranties alleged to be breached, the agreed accounting basis, the relevant accounting standards, and the valuation methodology to be applied.
Documents to Provide
Provide the SPA (including all schedules and disclosure letters), reference accounts, completion accounts (if applicable), earn-out calculations, due diligence reports, management accounts, correspondence between the parties, and any prior expert reports.
Include documents unfavourable to your client's position. An expert who only sees one side of the evidence will produce a partial report.
SPA Review Before Instruction
Review the SPA limitation periods, warranty definitions, accounting basis clauses, and dispute resolution mechanisms before instructing the expert. The expert's analysis must be framed within the contractual framework of the SPA.
Identify whether the dispute is subject to expert determination or litigation, as this affects the expert's role and deliverables.
CPR Part 35 Requirements
Expert reports for court proceedings must comply with CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35. The expert must state the substance of all material instructions, identify sources relied upon, and confirm their duty to the court.
The expert must be genuinely independent. Instructions that predetermine the outcome or pressure the expert toward a partial approach will be exposed at trial.
Instruct a Warranty Claim Expert Witness
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