Mealey's Daubert
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January 18, 2023
Ore. Federal Judge Allows Analysis On Bullet, Casing Testimony In Criminal Case
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge on Jan 17 ruled that firearm toolmark comparison evidence can be presented by the government in a criminal case against two alleged gang members after finding that the factors established under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. weigh in favor of admissibility.
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January 18, 2023
Fruit Snacks Company’s Expert Can Testify On Influence Of ‘Misleading’ Box Size
LOS ANGELES — Class members alleging that a fruit snack manufacturer deceived its customers by including nonfunctional “slack-fill” in boxes failed to convince a California federal judge to exclude testimony from the company’s expert, who opined that this allegation was not misleading or material to consumers.
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January 17, 2023
Architect Can Testify In Fall Case Against Hotel But Can’t Opine On New Repairs
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal judge in Puerto Rico ruled that a hotel can cross-examine an architect who opines that a woman fell in the hotel’s stairway because of negligence to point out deficiencies in his conclusions but said the testimony is not inadmissible, though she agreed to strike a portion of his testimony that she found unfairly prejudicial.
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January 17, 2023
Texas Criminal Appeals Court Finds Any Error In Officer’s Testimony To Be Harmless
AUSTIN, Texas — A trial court’s error in admitting a police officer's direct opinion testimony on the credibility of a child who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a family friend was harmless and had little influence on the jury, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals found, reversing an appellate court decision that remanded the case for a new trial.
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January 13, 2023
Expert In Oil Spill Case Is Qualified, Federal Judge Says In Win For Government
MOBILE, Ala. — A towing vessel owner who claims that the government is responsible for an oil spill from a barge lost its bid to exclude an expert witness, with an Alabama federal judge finding that the concerns raised “with regard to the proffered expert testimony goes to the weight of the testimony, not to its admissibility.”
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January 12, 2023
Judge: Expert Testimony Won’t Help Jury After Claims Dismissed In Insurance Spat
SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal judge agreed to bar an expert from testifying and to grant summary judgment on certain claims filed against an insurer by a woman who alleges that it breached its contract in denying her claim for property damage.
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January 11, 2023
Expert Correctly Excluded In Wrongful Death Suit, Utah Appeals Court Says
SALT LAKE CITY — A trial court did not err in excluding an expert retained by the estate of a man whom it alleges died as a result of negligence by a nursing home, a Utah appeals court ruled, also finding that because the estate failed to establish medical causation, summary judgment was also appropriate.
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January 10, 2023
11th Circuit Finds No Error In Allowing Expert Testimony In Insurance Fraud Case
ATLANTA — A district court did not err in admitting expert opinion testimony against a 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, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, rejecting each of the man’s other arguments for reversal.
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January 09, 2023
Federal Judge Allows Expert Testimony But Limits Scope In Child Abuse Case
OKLAHOMA CITY — An expert retained by a couple facing child abuse and child neglect charges may testify in the criminal case, but an Oklahoma federal judge limited his testimony to exclude any conclusions that are within the capacity of an average juror.
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January 06, 2023
Federal Judge: Experts Cannot Testify On Facts Not Relevant To Pending Charges
CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge has agreed to limit testimony from experts retained by the United States and a former politician charged with racketeering, finding that testimony relating to campaign finance violations is irrelevant to the facts of the case.
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January 06, 2023
Law Firm Loses Bid To Exclude Commercial Lending Practices Expert In Fraud Suit
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An expert retained to testify on the customs and practices among commercial lenders may testify in a fraud and negligent misrepresentation case, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, denying a law firm’s motion to strike.
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January 03, 2023
Judge Admits Testimony Of Former Montana Senator In Asbestos-Screening Fight
MISSOULA, Mont. — Former Sen. Max Baucus was timely disclosed as an expert and, to ensure that there is no prejudice to a railway prosecuting a False Claims Act (FCA) suit, it may depose him, but disclosure of a hybrid-expert witness after the close for fact witnesses requires excluding a second expert, a federal judge in Montana said.
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January 02, 2023
Judge Limits Testimony From Expert On Causation, Work Expectancy After Accident
BURLINGTON, Vt. — An expert retained by a man rendered a paraplegic after a skiing accident can testify in a limited capacity on the cause of his injuries and his diminished earning potential, a Vermont federal judge ruled.
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December 23, 2022
Safety Expert Unqualified, Opinions Are Unreliable, Judge Rules In Excluding
PITTBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge agreed to exclude a safety expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured when books fell from a shelf inside a Dollar General store.
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December 14, 2022
Judge Limits Testimony From 1 Expert, Allows 2 Others In Prisoner’s Suit
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge ruled on motions to exclude experts retained in a prisoner’s suit alleging cruel and unusual punishment, finding that one expert can speak generally on solitary confinement but cannot opine on the mental health of the inmate but that other experts retained by the inmate meet the admissibility standards of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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December 14, 2022
Judge Excludes 2 Experts In Crash Suit, Grants Summary Judgment For 1 Defendant
BEAUFORT, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge on Dec. 13 granted summary judgment to an employer being sued by a woman who alleges that she was injured in a car accident, days after agreeing to limit the testimony of one of her experts and excluding another.
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December 14, 2022
Expert Can’t Testify That Timing Of C-Section Was Cause Of Injuries, Judge Says
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A doctor who testified that a woman’s postpartum hemorrhage was a result of her health care providers deviating from the standard of care and delaying a cesarean section is inadmissible, a Connecticut judge ruled, because the opinions are not supported by a reliable methodology.
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December 14, 2022
Toxicologist Can Testify To Marijuana’s Effects On Skier Who Crashed, Judge Says
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont federal judge ruled that an expert retained by a ski resort can opine on the effects marijuana consumption would have had on a skier who was seriously injured after crashing into a snow-making machine, finding that his testimony is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and is not unfairly prejudicial.
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December 14, 2022
Magistrate: Testimony From Expert In Trucking Crash Is Unreliable Under Daubert
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Allowing an expert to testify that a car accident would not have occurred if a truck driver had taken proper precautions and followed safety regulations and industry practices “would destroy the Court’s gatekeeping function” because the expert failed to provide a factual basis for his conclusions, a Wyoming federal magistrate judge ruled.
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December 14, 2022
Zantac/Ranitidine MDL Judge Excludes General Causation Experts, Grants Judgment
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Florida judge overseeing the Zantac/ranitidine multidistrict litigation has excluded the plaintiffs’ general causation experts and granted the summary judgment to the defendants.
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December 14, 2022
New York Judge Sanctions Arnold & Porter For Opioid Discovery Violations
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The New York state court judge overseeing an opioid case brought by the state of New York and two counties has sanctioned the defense firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (A&P) in Washington, D.C., ordering it to pay the state attorney general $155,000 in counsel fees and costs for failing to comply with the court’s discovery orders.
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December 14, 2022
5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Design, Warranty Claims In Heart Device Case
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed the dismissal of a heart device complaint, saying the plaintiff pleaded adequately specific allegations to support his design defect and breach of implied warranty claims.
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December 12, 2022
Magistrate Allows Testimony From Expert In Support Of Insurance Fraud Charges
MIAMI — An expert retained by an insurer that sued a group of medical facilities and their employees for submitting fraudulent claims may testify, a federal magistrate judge in Florida said, finding the arguments for exclusion best addressed through cross-examination.
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December 08, 2022
Zostavax MDL Judge Dismisses 1,189 Shingles Cases For Lack Of Specific Causation
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the Zostavax shingles vaccine multidistrict litigation granted a motion by defendant Merck & Co. Inc. to dismiss 1,189 cases because the plaintiffs failed to provide prima facie evidence that their shingles were caused by the Oka strain of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) used to make the vaccine rather than the “wild-type” of the virus from childhood chickenpox infections.
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December 07, 2022
Future Earnings Expert’s Testimony Is Relevant, Admissible, Federal Judge Says
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge ruled that an economic and vocational expert retained by a man alleging that he was injured when he slipped inside a Bonefish Grill restaurant may testify after rejecting the argument that his proposed testimony would not be helpful to a jury.