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Mealey's Daubert

May 04, 2023
Medical Coding Expert ‘Has No Place’ In Slip-And-Fall Case, Federal Judge Rules

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge granted a man’s motion to exclude a coding and billing expert retained by Wal-Mart in a slip-and-fall case, citing previous cases in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found the expert’s testimony to be unhelpful to a jury.
May 02, 2023
Michigan Appeals Court Reverses Exclusion Of Expert, Summary Judgment Grant

DETROIT — A Michigan appeals court held that a “trial court appeared more concerned with conducting a miniature trial” than adequately determining the admissibility of a causation expert retained by a woman who sued a nursing home for medical malpractice and reversed a grant of summary judgment and remanded the case.
May 02, 2023
Va. Federal Judge: Life-Care Expert Is Unqualified To Opine On Medical Needs

ROANOKE, Va. — Testimony from a life-care planner retained by a trucking company exceeds her area of expertise because she is rendering medical opinions, a Virginia federal judge ruled, granting a motion to exclude filed in a car-crash suit.
April 28, 2023
Tennessee Appeals Court Affirms Exclusion Of Experts In FELA Asbestos Case

JACKSON, Tenn. — A Tennessee judge properly excluded two experts who, while qualified to testify, lacked any scientific or fact-based basis for their conclusions that exposure to asbestos and diesel fumes led to a woman’s renal cancer, the state’s appeals court affirmed.
April 27, 2023
Judge Partly Grants Extension Request After Denying Summary Judgment In ERISA Case

NEW YORK — After denying a motion for summary judgment in a class action that centers on one allegedly imprudent investment option, a New York federal judge on April 26 partially granted the defendants’ unopposed request for an extension of deadlines.
April 27, 2023
Judge: Causation Expert In Postal Truck Accident Case Passes Admissibility Test

PHOENIX — The opinions of an expert retained by the government who concluded that the injuries a man alleges that he sustained in an accident with a postal truck actually predate the incident are admissible, an Arizona federal judge ruled.
April 25, 2023
California Appeals Court Affirms Expert Exclusion In Onglyza Heart Failure Cases

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court has affirmed a trial judge’s exclusion of the sole plaintiffs’ general causation expert in the state’s coordinated Onglyza heart failure docket, the judge’s denial of alternative causation evidence or a new expert and his grant of summary judgment.
April 25, 2023
Fla. Federal Judge Dismisses Case After Settlement Reached After Daubert Ruling

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on April 24 signed an order dismissing a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims that she was injured in a cruise ship bathroom after a settlement was reached days after the judge adopted a magistrate’s recommendations to exclude expert witnesses from testifying on the cause of the injuries.
April 20, 2023
Federal Magistrate Rules Expert Admissible In Golf Course Maintenance Dispute

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal magistrate judge denied a motion to exclude an expert retained in a long-running dispute over maintenance of a golf course, with the magistrate judge criticizing the “Daubert motion cottage industry” and finding that the designated expert “seems like a fellow who could look at line items for course repair work and determine whether they were reasonable.”
April 20, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge: Motion To Exclude Expert In Treadmill Injury Case Fails

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge was unconvinced by a treadmill company’s attempts to exclude testimony from a standard of care expert retained by the family of toddler who was injured when he was pulled under the machine while his father was using it.
April 19, 2023
Trial Court Erred In Excluding Florida Toxicologist’s Testimony In DUI Case

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida appeals court found that a trial court erred in granting a motion to exclude filed by man charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide and barring testimony from an expert from the state opining on his blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash.
April 19, 2023
Judge: Expert On Potential Damages Admitted In Employment Discrimination Case

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge denied a company’s motion to exclude a woman’s expert who calculated her potential damages in an employment discrimination case after finding that most of her calculations still allow a jury to reach its own conclusions but agreed to exclude calculations on damages the woman incurred after she left the company.
April 19, 2023
Expert Cannot Testify To Possible Third-Party Perpetrator In Murder Case

PIERRE, S.D. — A woman charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter cannot use an expert witness to testify that a 10-year-old boy who was living with the girl could possibly have been the killer, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled, reversing and remanding a lower court.
April 18, 2023
Cross-Examination Will Resolve Objections To Dueling Experts, Magistrate Says

MIAMI — Dueling motions to exclude experts retained by both sides of a homeowners’ insurance coverage dispute failed, with a Florida federal magistrate judge ruling that “vigorous cross-examination,” as noted under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., is the best way to resolve the objections on reliability.
April 14, 2023
Magistrate Admits Most Opinions Of Reconstructionist In Motorcycle Crash Case

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An accident reconstruction expert retained in a vehicle collision case cannot opine on the proximate cause of the accident, but his other opinions are admissible, a Tennessee federal judge ruled in partially granting and partially denying a motion to exclude.
April 13, 2023
California Court Rejects Petitions Challenging Expert’s Talc-Mesothelioma Opinions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on April 12 denied two petitions from asbestos-talc defendants seeking review of the admission of expert testimony regarding fibrous talc as a cause of mesothelioma, an opinion one of the parties called “preposterous.”
April 13, 2023
10th Circuit Affirms Nurse’s Drug Conviction, No Error In Expert Admission

DENVER — The conviction of a former nurse convicted of diverting opioids was upheld by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found that the lower court did not err in denying a motion to exclude an expert who testified on the results of a drug test on the nurse’s hair.
April 13, 2023
Smithfield Foods Settles Pork Price-Fixing Claims For $75 Million

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota granted final approval to a $75 million settlement between a class of consumer indirect purchaser plaintiffs (consumer IPPs) and Smithfield Foods Inc., one of the defendants in a multidistrict litigation accusing various pork suppliers of conspiring to stabilize and increase the price of pork.
April 12, 2023
Boston University Granted Summary Judgment In Pandemic Closure Class Suit

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts granted summary judgment to the trustees of Boston University (BU) in a putative class complaint by students who sued after in-person classes transitioned to online-only in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, finding that school was entitled to the impossibility defense as a matter of law.
April 12, 2023
Treating Physician Doesn’t Meet Admissibility Standards In Injury Case, Judge Says

NEW YORK — An expert retained by a woman who claims that she was injured when she fell inside a bank is inadmissible under federal standards, a New York federal judge ruled (Rachel Bell v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 20-2468, S.D. N.Y., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59378).
April 12, 2023
Insured’s Expert Testimony Is Curtailed In Homeowner’s Coverage Dispute

HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge has partially granted and partially denied a motion to exclude an insured’s expert in an insurance coverage dispute for damage caused by a storm after finding that certain of the expert’s opinions aren’t admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
April 06, 2023
Louisiana Panel Affirms Award In Crash Suit, Finds No Error In Trial Court Rulings

SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana trial court did not err in denying an “emergency” Daubert hearing requested by a woman three days into trial for injuries sustained in a car accident, a state appeals court ruled April 5, also finding no error in other rulings brought up on appeal and affirming the judgment.
April 06, 2023
10th Circuit: Firearm, Toolmark Testimony Correctly Admitted In Criminal Case

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a conviction of a man for being in possession of ammunition as a felon after finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing expert testimony from a firearm and toolmark examiner.
April 06, 2023
Federal Magistrate Judge Limits Toxicologist’s Testimony In Cruise Injury Case

MIAMI — A toxicology expert retained by Carnival Corp. can testify on a woman’s blood-alcohol concentration at the time of a fall but cannot opine on whether intoxication contributed to the accident, a Florida federal magistrate judge ruled in a personal injury suit.
April 05, 2023
Justice Thomas Rejects Stay Of 11th Circuit Mandate In Care Home Fraud Case

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on April 4 denied an application to stay the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ mandate pending a decision on a man’s upcoming petition for a writ of certiorari of the 11th Circuit’s ruling that a district court did not err in admitting expert opinion testimony against the man convicted for his role in a $37 million health care fraud scheme that began in 1998 and involved bribing physicians to have patients entered into a network of assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities that he owned.