Mealey's Daubert
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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July 25, 2024
Experts Featured In July 2024
Entries are ordered by the most recent ruling in each area of expert testimony.
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July 25, 2024
New York Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Expert Testimony In Securities Fraud Case
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge partially granted the government’s motion to exclude expert witnesses retained by two men charged with securities and wire fraud after finding that some testimony is inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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July 25, 2024
Magistrate Judge Partially Excludes Expert Testimony, Says Case Should Be Dismissed
DALLAS — A Texas federal magistrate judge found that an expert witness retained in a wrongful termination suit cannot offer opinions that are not based on facts in the record, partially granting a motion to exclude and in a separate order, recommended that the city be granted summary judgment and the case be dismissed with prejudice.
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July 23, 2024
1st Circuit: No Error In Exclusion Of Expert In Suit Against School District
BOSTON — A district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding testimony from an expert who opined that the failure to properly implement a child’s individualized education program (IEP) caused an increase in the child’s seizure activity, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said, affirming summary judgment for the school district.
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July 23, 2024
4th Circuit Finds Lower Court Erred In Excluding Testimony In Pelvic Mesh Case
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 22 found that based on answers to questions certified to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a district court erred in excluding testimony from a woman’s expert in a pelvic mesh case and vacated a judgment that found in favor of the device manufacturer.
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July 23, 2024
Judge OKs Expert Testimony For Disabled Veterans In Suit Against VA, Others
LOS ANGELES — Experts retained by disabled veterans who sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its officials for failing to provide them the benefits to which they are entitled can testify, a California federal judge ruled, denying a motion to exclude.
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July 22, 2024
S.C. Federal Judge Rules That Expert Can Testify In Tree Stand Injury Case
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge denied a motion to exclude an expert who will testify that a tree stand manufacturer violated the standard of care, which led to a man being injured after the tree stand failed.