Mealey's Daubert
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June 20, 2024
Parties Debate Allowing New Causation Expert In ASD-ADHD MDL
NEW YORK — Defendants facing lawsuits by parents in the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or ADHD say the parents’ arguments for allowing a new expert to testify are misplaced.
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June 19, 2024
Expert On Standard Of Medical Care Of Inmates Excluded, W.Va. Federal Judge Says
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A medical expert’s opinion that a detention center’s medical staff met the standard of care in their treatment of an inmate who suffered from opioid use disorder is inadmissible because the expert failed to base his conclusions on reliable principles or methods, a West Virginia federal judge found.
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June 14, 2024
J&J Can Depose Asbestos Expert Longo’s Employee, Special Master Says
TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson entities may depose the lab employee who performed the testing on which expert William Longo relies, the special master in New Jersey involved in the federal multidistrict litigation involving asbestos-talc claims said.
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June 14, 2024
Trial Court Erred In Excluding Experts In Design Defect Case, 11th Circuit Says
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a trial court “applied an incorrect legal standard in excluding portions of the experts’ testimony and that this error infected its summary judgment decision,” reversing and remanding a design defect and injury case stemming from a fall out of a climbing tree stand while hunting.
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June 13, 2024
Insurers’ Motion For Summary Judgment Denied In Row Over Jet Insurance Coverage
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied summary judgment to insurers in their suit seeking rescission of a policy covering a private jet but granted in part the jet owners’ motion for partial summary judgment regarding their reliance “on a misrepresentation theory,” finding that the insurers failed to show that the insureds made misrepresentations about the identity of the jet’s pilots.
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June 12, 2024
Judge Nixes Government’s Bid To Stop Expert’s Deposition In Camp Lejeune Case
RALEIGH, N.C. — On June 11, a federal magistrate judge in North Carolina denied a motion by the U.S. government that sought a protective order to prevent its expert, Christopher Portier, from providing deposition testimony, ruling that the government’s arguments regarding the burden of compliance with international and Italian law are “unavailing.”
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June 11, 2024
Testimony From Experts Retained In Crash Coverage Spat Limited By Federal Judge
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge on June 10 partially granted two motions to exclude experts retained by a woman injured in a car accident who sued an insurer for failing to fully cover her injuries and also granted the insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment.
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June 07, 2024
Experts In Metal-On-Metal Hip Implant Case Can Testify, Judge Says
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge denied requests by defendants in a defective metal-on-metal hip implant case remanded from a multidistrict litigation to exclude testimony from two experts witnesses and grant them summary judgment.
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June 06, 2024
Judge Won’t Bar Experts, Admit Exhibits Ahead Of FTCA Asbestos Trial
SEATTLE — Facing an upcoming trial on take-home and environmental asbestos claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), a federal judge in Washington declined to preadmit certain exhibits or exclude expert testimony, finding the trio of motions premature or untimely.
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June 06, 2024
Judge Limits Testimony In Design Defect Case, Grants Partial Summary Judgment
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge partially dismissed a woman’s suit against a surgical stapler device manufacturer after finding that certain testimony from expert witnesses is inadmissible under the standards of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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June 05, 2024
Asbestos Plaintiffs Warn Of Expert Oversight Motion’s ‘Massive Chilling Effect’
TRENTON, N.J. — Allowing Johnson & Johnson to compel plaintiff-side expert William Longo to perform testing under the gaze of defense experts would be a “patently unreasonable” and unprecedented step and likely have a “massive chilling effect on expert witnesses,” plaintiffs in the federal multidistrict asbestos-talc litigation argue in opposing a motion to compel.
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June 04, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs: Court Should Deny Bid To Prevent Expert’s Deposition
RALEIGH, N.C. — The plaintiffs leadership group (PLG) in the Camp Lejeune water crisis litigation has filed an opposition brief in North Carolina federal court contending that because its expert, Christopher Portier, will provide “highly relevant testimony that is critical” to the case, the court should deny the U.S. government’s motion for a protective order to prevent Portier’s deposition.
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June 04, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Allows Expert Testimony In Asbestos Exposure Case
TAMPA, Fla. — Arguments made by the two remaining defendants in an asbestos exposure case failed to convince a Florida federal judge that testimony by the plaintiff’s expert is inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., with the judge denying separate motions to exclude on June 3.
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June 04, 2024
North Dakota Supreme Court Reverses Conviction Based On Improper Expert Testimony
BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Supreme Court reversed a murder conviction and remanded the case after finding that the trial judge erred in allowing expert testimony from a witness for the state without the prosecutors meeting the state’s criminal procedure rules.
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June 04, 2024
Judge Says Expert Can Opine On Trucking Company’s Driver Logs In Crash Suit
SAN ANTONIO — Expert testimony on driver logs related to a trucker’s collision is reliable and will help a jury, a Texas federal judge ruled in denying a man’s motion to exclude; the judge also denied the man’s motion to reconsider a previous grant of partial summary judgment.
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June 03, 2024
Judge Rules Funeral Home’s Coverage Claim Barred By Rainwater Exclusion
DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on May 31 dismissed with prejudice a funeral home’s complaint in which it argued that it was owed coverage for damage caused by a rainstorm after a roofing company failed to secure the roof for the weather, finding that coverage is barred by a policy exclusion related to damage caused by water without damage caused to the roof.
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May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: Review Of Expert Causation Testimony Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 702: An Early Assessment Of The 2023 Amended Rule
By William L. Anderson and Mark A. Behrens
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June 03, 2024
Monsanto’s Bid To Strike Expert ‘Unavailing’ In Verdict Appeal, Judge Says
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that a trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied a motion by Monsanto Co. that sought to exclude a plaintiff’s expert in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit in which a jury awarded the plaintiff $175 million in combined damages. The judge said Monsanto’s allegation of error related to the admissibility of a plaintiffs’ expert was “unavailing.”
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May 31, 2024
Federal Judge: Expert Can Testify That Dangerous Railroad Crossing Led To Crash
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on May 30 denied a joint motion filed by a railroad company and Amtrak to exclude an expert who opined that a railroad crossing was extrahazardous and that its condition led to a collision.
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May 31, 2024
Michigan Appeals Court: No Error In Expert Exclusion, Summary Judgment Award
DETROIT — A Michigan trial court did not err in finding that a medical expert failed to meet the admissibility standards under state law and that without that testimony, a woman failed to “advance a viable claim of medical malpractice,” a state appeals court held in affirming summary judgment in a medical malpractice suit.
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May 30, 2024
Judge Certifies Privacy, Publicity Rights Class Action Against Data Aggregator
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 29 granted a group of plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class action against a personal information data-aggregator website on behalf of two statewide classes accusing the company of violating plaintiffs’ rights of publicity and against misappropriation of name and likeness and denied the parties’ competing motions to exclude each other’s experts.
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May 30, 2024
BP: Magistrate’s Report Correct, Deepwater Horizon Case Should Be Dismissed
PENSACOLA, Fla. — BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. (collectively, BP) filed a brief in Florida federal court arguing that it should overrule a plaintiff’s objection to a magistrate judge’s report that recommended that the court dismiss an injury lawsuit brought by a man who says he developed cancer as a result of working on a clean-up crew following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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May 30, 2024
Contractor Is Excluded From Testifying About Cabin Owner’s Lost Rental Income
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A general contractor is not qualified to testify about lost rental income arising from allegedly defective construction work performed at a cabin because the owner of the property failed to show that the contractor is an expert on the topic, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge found in granting a motion to exclude in part.
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May 29, 2024
Judge Certifies Class Of Consumers Allegedly Deceived By ‘Italy’s #1 Pasta’ Label
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 28 granted two consumers’ motion to certify their class action against an Illinois-based pasta manufacturer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by selling pasta products labeled with an “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta” statement and Italian flag colors and denied the manufacturer’s motion to exclude a plaintiff expert as moot.
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May 28, 2024
Judge Certifies Class In ESG Row Focused On Proxy Voting, Shareholder Activism
FORT WORTH, Texas — Rejecting numerous arguments advanced by American Airlines Inc. and a related defendant in a suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge granted certification of a narrowed class that reflects the decision to drop one theory of liability.