Hot-tubbing, in this context, is not what the phrase may first bring to mind.
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Where multiple examiners are involved in a case reports will be issued by each person and sometimes those reports will conflict. One way such conflicts can be resolved is commonly called hot-tubbing.
In brief, hot-tubbing is a Court-ordered discussion/debate involving two or more experts, aimed at sorting out critical issues before the forensic evidence is presented to the Court.12 As the Science Manual for Canadian Judges states:
Hot-tubbing originates from Australia, but has since been introduced to countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, England and Canada. In Canada, the Federal Court Rules, SOR/98-106, were amended in 2010 to permit hot-tubbing of experts at pre-trial and at trial (see sections 52.6, 282.1 and 282.2 of the Federal Court Rules below).
Science Manual for Canadian Judges, page 160.
Footnotes
- National Judicial Institute. (2013 – updated July 1, 2018). Science Manual for Canadian Judges. URL: https://www.nji-inm.ca/index.cfm/publications/science-manual-for-canadian-judges/?langSwitch=en
- See also Edmond, G., Ferguson, A. P., & Ward, T. (2017). Assessing Concurrent Expert Evidence. Civil Justice Quarterly, 37(3). http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/32674/