(a) Pretrial Discovery. Rules of court relating to depositions, interrogatories, discovery and inspection of documents and property, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this rule, shall not be applicable to the trial of condemnation proceedings to fix the amount of the award before the commissioners or to appeals from such awards except by leave of court. The court, however, may on motion and for good cause shown order a party to produce for deposition pursuant to R. 4:14 an expert witness the party intends to call at trial who has not testified at the hearing before the commissioners. The party taking the deposition shall pay the expert a reasonable fee, to be determined by the court if the parties cannot agree on the amount.
(b) Exchange of Experts' Reports; Comparable Sales and Leases. Prior to the hearing before the commissioners, the parties shall exchange the names, addresses, and written appraisal reports of any person who will be called to testify as a valuation expert and a list of comparable sales and leases intended to be established by proof which list shall set forth as to each comparable sale and lease the following information: names of seller and purchaser or landlord and tenant; location of property by block, lot, street, street number and municipality; date of sale or date and duration of lease; the consideration for the sale or amount of rent; and book and page number of the recording of the deed. This information shall be furnished at least 15 days prior to the hearing before the commissioners. On appeal to the Law Division, the parties shall exchange the name, address and written report of any expert, including but not limited to appraisers, who will be called to testify at least 40 days prior to trial or, if the case is pre-tried, at the time of service of pre-trial memoranda, whichever is earlier. Any party intending to offerrebuttal testimony shall furnish the name, address and written report of the rebuttal expert within 20 days after service upon that party of the report or deposition being rebutted. The parties shall provide a listing of each comparable sale or lease that will be utilized by any witness to establish or rebut market value. The list shall contain the same sale or lease information that is required to be furnished prior to the commission hearing. Unless the parties consent or the court otherwise orders, no party shall be permitted to offer testimony of any expert witness whose name and report has not been provided or of any comparable sale or lease for which the aforementioned information has not been timely exchanged.
