§ 25-12,117.Notice; copy of report or finding.

Section 25-12,117 is the procedural safeguard attached to the composite-report rule in section 25-12,115. A report is not admissible under that scheme unless the offering party has given the adverse party reasonable notice, before trial, of the intention to offer it. That notice must come with a copy of the report or finding, or at least the portion of it relating to the controversy.

Notice alone is not enough. The offering party also has to give the adverse party a reasonable opportunity to inspect and copy the records or other documents in the offering party’s possession or control on which the report or finding was based, along with the names of everyone who furnished facts used in preparing it. Those requirements give the adverse party the information needed to prepare a cross-examination or challenge the report’s reliability.

The section builds in one escape hatch: a report can still be admitted despite a failure to give notice if the trial court finds that no substantial injustice would result from that failure. That standard puts the decision in the trial court’s hands rather than making notice an absolute precondition in every case.