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2013 SESSION
13100772DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 8.01-401.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 8.01-401.1. Opinion testimony by experts; hearsay exception (subsection (a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:703, subsection (a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:705, and subsection (a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:706 derived from this section).
In any civil action any expert witness may give testimony and render an opinion or draw inferences from facts, circumstances or data made known to or perceived by such witness at or before the hearing or trial during which he is called upon to testify. The facts, circumstances or data relied upon by such witness in forming an opinion or drawing inferences, if of a type normally relied upon by others in the particular field of expertise in forming opinions and drawing inferences, need not be admissible in evidence.
The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give his reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data, unless the court requires otherwise. The expert may in any event be required to disclose the underlying facts or data on cross-examination.
To the extent called to the attention of an expert witness
upon cross-examination or relied upon by the expert witness in direct
examination, statements contained in published treatises, periodicals or
pamphlets on a subject of history, medicine or other science or art,
established as a reliable authority by testimony or by stipulation, shall not be excluded as
hearsay. If admitted, the statements may be read into evidence but may not be
received as exhibits. If the statements are to be introduced through an expert
witness upon direct examination, copies of the
specific statements shall be designated
as literature to be introduced during direct
examination and provided to opposing
parties thirty 30
days prior to trial unless otherwise ordered by the court.
If a statement has been designated by a party in accordance with and satisfies the requirements of this section, the expert witness called by that party need not have relied on the statement at the time of forming his opinion in order to read the statement into evidence during direct examination at trial.