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Mealey's Daubert

  • August 28, 2024

    Federal Judge Partially OKs Expert Exclusion Case Remanded From Pelvic Mesh MDL

    LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on Aug. 27 partially granted a motion to exclude expert testimony in a long-running case against a pelvic mesh manufacturer after previously ruling that the expert was properly designated and granting the manufacturer permission to move to exclude his general causation opinions under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • August 27, 2024

    Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report

    Entries are ordered in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony.  Experts appeared in the June, July and August 2024 issues.

  • August 27, 2024

    Arkansas Federal Judge Rules Firearms Expert Cannot Testify On Misfired Pistol

    EL DORADO, Ark. — An expert who opines that it is possible for a firearm to accidentally fire when dropped cannot testify because he failed to base his conclusions on a reliable methodology as required under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, an Arkansas federal judge ruled.

  • August 27, 2024

    Expert May Testify On Economic Losses In Excessive Force Suit Against Police

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An expert who opined on the economic loss a man suffered due to two police officers using excessive force during his arrest may testify, a Florida federal judge ruled, finding that a late-disclosed report was justified and that the majority of his opinions meet federal admissibility standards.

  • August 26, 2024

    Loan Expert Admissible In Case Alleging Insurance Policy Canceled By Negligence

    PHOENIX — An expert retained by a couple who learned after a fire destroyed their home that their homeowners insurance policy had been canceled can testify in the case against the mortgage companies and broker who the couple said improperly failed to pay the premiums, an Arizona federal judge ruled Aug. 23.

  • August 26, 2024

    Bench Trial Yields Ruling For Defendants In ERISA Fees, Funds Challenge

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Noting in part that that she afforded “little to no weight” to the testimony of two of the class’s experts, a California federal judge ruled for the defendants on all claims after a bench trial, in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over 401(k) fees and funds.

  • August 23, 2024

    Indiana Federal Judge Bars Excessive Force Expert In Case Stemming From Arrest

    SOUTH BEND, Ind. — An Indiana federal judge granted a motion to exclude an expert retained by a woman asserting civil rights violations stemming from her arrest by South Bend, Ind., police officers after finding that his opinions do not apply to the case after the judge granted summary judgment on the majority of the claims.

  • August 22, 2024

    Judge Says Insurer Based Argument For Expert Exclusion On Incorrect Statement

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma federal judge found that an insurer based its argument that an expert in a coverage dispute should be excluded on “an incorrect factual premise” and ruled that the construction expert can testify on the hail and wind damage to an insured’s home.

  • August 22, 2024

    Magistrate: Expert Can Testify On Causal Link Of School’s Actions To Suicide

    BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A psychology expert retained by the mother of a child who she says committed suicide after his school failed to respond to multiple bullying incidents can testify on factors that contributed to the son’s death, a federal magistrate judge in Georgia ruled Aug. 21, denying the school district’s motion to exclude.

  • August 22, 2024

    Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD Judge Says Causation Not Proven, Grants Summary Judgment

    NEW YORK — The New York federal judge overseeing the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, who recently found an expert retained by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes ADHD to be inadmissible, awarded summary judgment to the defendants after rejecting the plaintiffs’ argument that statements made by the defendants’ expert could use to prove causation.

  • August 20, 2024

    Expert Testimony Properly Admitted But Minnesota Appeals Court Orders New Trial

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota appeals court, guided by a recent state Supreme Court decision, on Aug. 19 found that a prosecutor’s statement that the “‘presumption of innocence is gone’” constitutes reversible plain error in a criminal sexual assault case but ruled that there was no error in allowing a forensic interviewer to testify.

  • August 12, 2024

    Maine High Court: No Error In Allowing Expert To Testify In Child Sex Abuse Case

    PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a man’s criminal conviction for sexually assaulting his daughter and stepdaughter after finding no error in the trial court’s decision to allow an expert on forensic interviews to testify on the delayed disclosure of child sexual abuse.

  • August 09, 2024

    Magistrate Excludes Defense Witnesses, Allows Plaintiffs’ Expert To Testify

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Two doctors in a medical malpractice suit on Aug. 8 asked a federal magistrate judge in Puerto Rico to reconsider his order excluding their expert witnesses, who would testify on whether the standard of care was breached while treating a man who later died after ingesting glyphosate.

  • August 06, 2024

    Expert Testimony In AI Copyright Suit Largely Admitted By Judge

    WILMINGTON, Del. — That a small portion of an expert’s opinion involves relatively simple math and the availability of statutory damages is not grounds to exclude the testimony, but a defense expert who relies on simplified data and hypotheticals about income for his opinions on disgorgement and lost profits must be excluded from an artificial intelligence copyright suit, a federal judge in Delaware said in ruling on the admissibility of several expert witnesses.

  • August 05, 2024

    Magistrate Judge Rejects Immunity, Contractor Defense In Helicopter Asbestos Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Two helicopter defendants saw different results in an asbestos case, with a magistrate judge on Aug. 2 recommending that one be dismissed but leaving claims against the second, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., after criticizing its filing but concluding that a widow’s case against it survives because the evidence suggests that it knew that its aircraft contained asbestos and that the federal contractor defense and derivative sovereign immunity would not bar the claims.

  • August 05, 2024

    Defense Expert On Medical Standards Properly Admitted In Malpractice Suit In Georgia

    ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals court on Aug. 2 found that a trial court properly allowed expert testimony under the state’s admission standards and affirmed a defense verdict in a medical malpractice suit.

  • August 05, 2024

    3rd Circuit Appeal Filed Over Summary Judgment, Exclusion Ruling In ERISA Fees Row

    PHILADELPHIA — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees is being taken to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, with the named plaintiff filing a notice of appeal regarding a denial of summary judgment ruling that involved excluding an expert whose testimony has had mixed fates under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals challenges in other courts.

  • August 02, 2024

    Expert Did Not Connect Injuries To Malpractice; Summary Judgment Affirmed

    PHILADELPHIA — Because an expert for parents did not causally connect the deprivation of oxygen during their child’s delivery to his diagnosis of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a district court properly excluded the expert’s testimony and did not err in awarding summary judgment on the medical malpractice claims, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.

  • August 01, 2024

    1st Circuit Orders New Copyright Infringement Damages Trial For Guitar Maker

    BOSTON — A panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new jury trial on the issue of infringing profits on a copyright claim brought by a guitar manufacturer who said a guitar seller used a copyrighted photo of guitar headstocks on its website, holding that a New Hampshire federal judge did not accurately explain the manufacturer’s burden of proof in jury instructions.

  • August 01, 2024

    Texas Panel Again Finds Expert Report Deficient In Nursing Home Negligence Suit

    TYLER, Texas — Finding that the causation opinions in an expert’s amended report “suffer from the same deficiencies as his original report,” a Texas appellate panel affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of an estate representative’s health care liability suit against a nursing home where the decedent lived.

  • July 31, 2024

    Reconsideration Denied In Dispute Over Misrepresentation As To $2M Life Policies

    MACON, Ga. — A Georgia federal judge on July 30 denied a life insurance beneficiary’s motion for reconsideration of a summary judgment ruling for the insurer regarding the beneficiary’s bad faith claim related to the insurer’s attempted rescission of two $1 million life insurance policies, finding that the insurer “had reasonable grounds to contest” the beneficiary’s claim given that the insured made misrepresentations in his insurance applications regarding his alcohol use.

  • July 31, 2024

    Ind. Appeals Court: No Error In Testimony Of Arson Investigator On Fire Origin

    INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals court on July 30 said it “will not second guess the trial court’s determination” that an expert witness in a criminal arson case who opined that the fire was intentionally set was admissible and affirmed a man’s conviction.

  • July 29, 2024

    Judge Orders Cosmetics Company To Pay For More Depositions In Trademark Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A cosmetics company that asserts trademark and trade dress infringement of its mascara product by another cosmetics manufacturer will be allowed to conduct additional depositions to mitigate the prejudice caused by the defendant company belatedly disclosing expert witnesses’ functionality theories about the mascara brush trade dress that should have been included in discovery, a federal judge in California held.

  • July 25, 2024

    J&J Seeks To Exclude General Causation Experts In Asbestos-Talc MDL

    TRENTON, N.J. — Experts in the asbestos-talc multidistrict litigation conveniently ignore causation evidence to the contrary and overinflate the science, and it is the court’s job as gatekeeper to ensure that such unreliable testimony does not reach the jury, Johnson & Johnson defendants tell a federal court in New Jersey in a motion to exclude general causation opinions.

  • July 25, 2024

    Experts Featured In July 2024

    Entries are ordered by the most recent ruling in each area of expert testimony.