Expert Witness Blog
The Northeastern Pennsylvania Times Leader reported that a federal court will allow an immigration expert witness to testify in case involving the Hazelton Pennsylvania Illegal Immigration Relief Act.
As stated in the news report:
The trial, which begins on Monday, will determine the constitutionality of the city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which seeks to punish landlords and employers who knowingly rent to or hire illegal immigrants.
The city was issued a win in pretrial motions on Sunday when [Judge] Munley ordered that the city can have an expert witness – Jan Ting, a professor of law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law – testify in the trial.
The plaintiffs sought to prevent Ting from testifying, but court ruled that the city needed to find rebuttal testimony to an expert witness for the defense whom they plaintiffs learned would be allowed to testify only on Feb. 22.
Courts have tremendous latitude in allowing and disallowing expert witness testimony. In this case, the court ruled the city could have an expert witness despite the fact that the request came after the deadline for submitting expert reports, and only two days prior to trial.