ABSTRACT
Not only the substantive laws, but also the Anglo-American rules of procedure differ fundamentally from the German ones. To understand the rules and usages concerning the use of experts in litigation and arbitration in Germany, it is necessary to set out some differences between the German and Anglo-American systems of conducting court proceedings. As damage caused by wrongful expert's opinions will normally be "purely economic", for instance where due to an expert's mistake the plaintiff is awarded lower damages than the court-appointed expert is entitled to, the scope of court-appointed expert's liability is therefore rather limited. The role of party-appointed experts in arbitration does not differ from their counterparts in litigation. The remedies available to the parties and the measure of damages recoverable are also the same as for malperformance of a party-appointed expert in litigation. The new statutory provisions are almost a wholesale incorporation of the United Nations Commission on Trade Law Model Law.
