When can a witness who has not been retained by a party to the litigation give opinion testimony at trial? Must that witness comply with the requirements of Rule 53.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which is directed at expert witnesses and requires that no opinion evidence may be tendered unless a report is prepared and signed by the expert witness, who must in turn acknowledge that he or she has a duty to the Court to be unbiased and impartial?  The confusion surrounding these critical issues was cleared this past week with the release of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Westerhof v Gee Estate and its companion case, McCallum v Baker.

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