Mealey's Daubert
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January 09, 2024
Magistrate Partially Grants Motions To Exclude Expert Testimony In Crash Case
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas agreed to limit the testimony presented by two experts retained by a man suing the federal government for injuries he sustained in a car crash with a federal employee.
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January 05, 2024
Causation Experts Out In Suit Alleging Defect Caused Accidental Pistol Discharge
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on Jan. 4 granted summary judgment to a gun manufacturer after finding the two causation experts retained by a man who alleges that a defective firearm accidentally fired and struck his leg to be inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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January 05, 2024
Judge Says Chronic Injury Claims May Not Head To Trial In Chemical Exposure Case
HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a plaintiff in a chemical injury lawsuit has not offered admissible expert testimony to establish that styrene exposure caused his long-term injures, therefore, his chronic injury claims may not proceed to trial.
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January 05, 2024
Expert OK’d In Slip-And-Fall Suit Against Walmart; Rebuttal Witness Excluded
FORT MYERS, Fla. — An expert retained by a man who alleges that he slipped and fell in a Walmart store parking lot based his opinions on a reliable methodology and his conclusions will be helpful to a jury, a Florida federal judge ruled, but also found that the rebuttal witness hired by the retailer failed to meet those requirements and granted a motion to exclude his testimony.
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January 05, 2024
Expert Can’t Place Blame On Decedent For Fatal Construction Accident
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal magistrate judge ruled that an expert retained by a construction company cannot say the decedent was partially to blame for a fatal accident.
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January 04, 2024
Concrete And Cement-Material Expert Can Testify In Insurance Coverage Spat
MIAMI — While an insurer’s motion to exclude an expert witness retained in a coverage dispute may “demonstrate some soft and dicey parts” of the expert’s opinions and may provide “substantial amount of legal ammunition to fire at” the expert during cross-examination, a federal magistrate judge in Florida ruled that the expert’s testimony is admissible.
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January 03, 2024
Judge Excludes Flint Witness, Says Testimony Not Reliable Under Daubert Standard
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan on Jan. 2 granted a motion to exclude one of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses in the Flint water crisis litigation, ruling that in his analysis he “repeatedly deviated” from accepted methodology without providing adequate explanation for his choice to do so. As a result, the judge said the plaintiffs did not show that their expert’s testimony is reliable under Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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January 02, 2024
Federal Judge Finds Crypto Firm Sold Coins As Unregistered Securities
NEW YORK — Weeks before a trial is set to begin, a federal judge in New York partially granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment against cryptocurrency firm Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and its CEO, finding that there is no dispute that the firm’s crypto assets were sold as unregistered securities.
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January 02, 2024
Exclusion, Partial Summary Judgment Bids Disputed In Microcaptive Insurance Suit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A tax attorney and the federal government have signaled agreement to resolve the attorney’s claim for disclosure of tax information even as they pursue summary judgment and expert exclusion motions in the case involving a penalty related to microcaptive insurance companies in a Florida federal court.
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December 21, 2023
Texas Federal Judge Revises Order On Expert Admissibility In Reconsideration Motion
DALLAS — A Texas federal judge excluded one expert and limited another expert’s testimony in an insurance coverage dispute after reconsidering a previous ruling on the admissibility of the experts.
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December 20, 2023
Amendments To Rule 702 For Expert Witness Testimony Go Into Effect
Amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, Fed. R. Evid. 702, went into effect to clarify how courts should decide the admissibility of expert testimony.
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December 20, 2023
Causation Experts Found Inadmissible In Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD MDL
NEW YORK — The New York federal judge overseeing the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation found that the general causation experts retained by plaintiffs alleging that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes the disorders are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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December 19, 2023
Rebuttal Witness Allowed In Construction Insurance Coverage Dispute
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A rebuttal expert witness can only contradict or rebut evidence presented by the opposing expert, but an insurer in a construction coverage dispute too narrowly focused on the content of its expert’s report, a South Carolina federal judge said Dec. 18 in refusing to strike all of the rebuttal expert’s report.
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December 19, 2023
Magistrate: Opinions Must Be Directly Related To Claims To Meet Relevance Standard
DENVER — A federal magistrate judge in Colorado on Dec. 18 excluded certain opinions of experts retained by a freelance journalist who says he was injured when police officers fired pepper-filled projectiles during a protest, finding that opinions that aren’t directly connected to his claims are irrelevant under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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December 19, 2023
Excluded Expert Witness Can’t Testify As Fact Witness In Device Injury Case
PHOENIX — A man alleging that a defective “metal-on-metal” hip replacement device caused an injury cannot present as a fact witness a person who has been excluded from testifying as an expert witness, an Arizona federal judge ruled, agreeing to strike his testimony.
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December 19, 2023
Experts Can Opine On Minority Data, Historic Discrimination In Voting Rights Case
WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge agreed to limit the testimony from experts retained by two voters who sued a Kansas city and its commissions for violating voting rights through at-large elections after finding that portions of their testimony are inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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December 18, 2023
Drug Trafficking Expert Testimony OK’d In Criminal Case In Ohio Federal Court
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge found that expert testimony from a police officer on drug trafficking and distribution is admissible and denied a motion filed by a criminal defendant seeking to exclude it from his trial.
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December 18, 2023
Cultural Expert Can’t Testify In Criminal Case Alleging Forced Labor
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge in Virigina agreed to exclude testimony of a sociologist and anthropologist retained as an expert witness by a defendant in a criminal trial who would testify on the topics of Indian and Punjabi culture after finding that her testimony is irrelevant and overly prejudicial.
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December 15, 2023
Expert Can Opine On THC In Blood Test But Not Say What Caused Fatal Accident
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal judge refused to suppress the results of a blood sample that tested for alcohol or other intoxicating substances but agreed to limit testimony from an expert retained by the state in a criminal case over a car crash that left two people dead.
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December 15, 2023
Expert On Fairness Of Injury Settlement OK’d In Underinsurered Coverage Spat
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge denied a motion to exclude an expert retained by an insurance company who will opine that a man who sued for coverage under an underinsured motorist policy was fully compensated for his injuries through his settlement with the driver.
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December 15, 2023
Maryland Appeals Court OKs Dog-Sniff Evidence, Upholds Murder Conviction
BALTIMORE — A Maryland appeals court rejected calls from a convicted murderer who said that his conviction should be overturned because the trial court erred in admitting testimony related to dog-sniff evidence that he argued was unreliable.
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December 15, 2023
California Federal Judge Largely Allows Experts In Inmate Wrongful Death Suit
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge ruled that experts retained in a wrongful death suit against the county of San Diego, the medical group in charge of inmate care and various employees may testify but said one expert may not make assertions about individual employees.
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December 15, 2023
N.Y. Federal Judge: Expert On Chemistry Can Testify In Dispute Over Leaking Cans
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge rejected a can manufacturer’s argument that its rebuttal expert is subject to a different standard for admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 but still denied a company’s motion to exclude that expert’s testimony.
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December 13, 2023
Couple Asks 9th Circuit To Review Exclusion Of Experts In Glyphosate Cancer Case
SAN FRANCISCO — On Dec. 12, a couple suing Monsanto Co. related to injuries they say they have suffered from exposure to the herbicide Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, filed a notice of appeal in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking reversal of a district court order that excluded two of their causation experts because they did not personally engage with and evaluate the scientific literature they rely on in reaching their opinions.
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December 12, 2023
2nd Glyphosate Expert ‘Not Scientific At All,’ Should Be Nixed, Monsanto Says
SAN FRANCISCO — Monsanto Co. on Dec. 11 filed a brief in California federal court contending that another plaintiff’s expert in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit should be excluded, in this instance because his opinions do not meet the requirements for expert admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702. Specifically, Monsanto says the expert “blindly relies” on the plaintiff’s recollection of his usage of the herbicide Roundup, and his opinion “is not scientific at all.”