§ 2034.230.Form and content of demand

Once a party decides to demand the expert-witness exchange, this section dictates what the demand document itself has to say. It must be in writing, identify the party making the demand beneath the case title, and expressly state that it is being made under this chapter, so nobody mistakes it for an interrogatory or some other discovery request.

Subdivision (b) is where the demand does its real work: it has to specify the actual date on which the exchange will happen. That date is fixed by the same closer-to-trial logic used elsewhere in the chapter, 50 days before the initial trial date, or 20 days after the demand is served, whichever comes closer to trial. The default is not absolute. A court, on motion and a showing of good cause, can order an earlier or later exchange date than the demand would otherwise set, giving the parties or the court room to adjust the schedule when the standard formula does not fit the case.