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Mealey's Daubert

  • April 18, 2025

    Judge: Expert Cannot Opine On Value Of Appraisal In Racial Discrimination Suit

    BALTIMORE — A sociologist retained by a couple alleging that an appraisal company discriminated against them by undervaluing their home because of their race can opine that the company deviated from its general practices but cannot testify on the validity of the appraisal, a Maryland federal judge said April 17.

  • April 16, 2025

    Court Rejects Appeal In Gun Case But Toolmark Evidence Admissibility Questioned

    LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court declined to review an appeals court decision that denied a man’s request for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel, but one justice filed a concurrence, noting that the court “has yet to evaluate whether toolmark evidence, and especially casings-matching evidence, is sufficiently reliable under” state and federal rules of evidence.

  • April 16, 2025

    CPA Can Opine On Damages In Breach Of Confidential Settlement Agreement Case

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge ruled on a motion to exclude three expert witnesses in a breach of a settlement agreement case that will proceed to a trial for damages, finding that an expert can testify on a man’s economic losses but that testimony from two psychologists is unneeded.

  • April 15, 2025

    Arkansas Federal Judge Says Woman’s Experts Can Testify In Slip-And-Fall Case

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Two experts retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured after falling in an Outback Steakhouse restaurant can testify, an Arkansas federal judge held, finding that the company’s arguments for their exclusion went to weight and not admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • April 11, 2025

    Federal Judge Allows Insurers’ Expert Testimony In Hail Damage Coverage Dispute

    DALLAS — Experts retained by an insurance company in a dispute over coverage for hail storm damage did not “rely on an extracontractual definition of cosmetic or functional damage to reach their conclusions,” a Texas federal judge ruled April 10 in denying a motion to exclude.

  • April 10, 2025

    Mich. Appeals Court: No Error In Limiting Expert’s Testimony In Lawn Care Accident

    LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Court of Appeals on April 9 affirmed a defense verdict for a landscaping business accused of negligence that caused a man’s injuries, finding no error in the trial court’s decision to partially exclude portions of the man’s expert’s testimony.

  • April 09, 2025

    Judge Rules That Certain Experts Can Testify But Cannot Offer Legal Conclusions

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge ruled on a series of motions to exclude expert witnesses retained for parties involved in a suit alleging that a man spent nine years in pretrial detention for a murder he did not commit.

  • April 09, 2025

    Valsartan MDL Judge Says Full Refund Not Required, Expert On Damages Excluded

    CAMDEN, N.J. — An expert retained by the third-party payer (TPP) trial plaintiffs in the valsartan/losartan/irbesartan hypertension drugs multidistrict litigation is barred from testifying on damages, the MDL judge said, also finding that the plaintiffs are not entitled a full refund as a matter of law.

  • April 08, 2025

    Judge: Woman’s Expert Meets Requirements To Testify In Medical Malpractice Suit

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge denied efforts from two doctors who moved to exclude a woman’s expert from opining on the standard of care in a medical malpractice suit, finding that the expert adequately satisfied the state’s the “locality requirement.”

  • April 07, 2025

    Judge Handles Exclusion Bids, Denies Summary Judgment In Excessive Fee Case

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A class action over a retirement plan’s record-keeping fees and share classes is progressing toward a bench trial after a North Carolina federal judge granted two of the defendant’s three reliability challenges as to expert opinions and then cited competing expert opinions in denying summary judgment.

  • April 03, 2025

    Fire Investigation Expert Out In Case Alleging Maserati Sparked Fire In Garage

    NEWARK, N.J. — A fire investigator who opined that a fire in the garage of a home rented by professional basketball player Tyrese Maxey was possibly caused by a malfunction in his 2018 Maserati GranTurismo is unreliable, a New Jersey federal judge held, granting summary judgment to the car manufacturer.

  • April 03, 2025

    Judge: Couple Must Pay More Than $1.9M To Prudential In Long-Term Care Fraud Suit

    ORLANDO, Fla. — After a nine-day jury trial in which a jury issued an award of over $1.9 million to Prudential Insurance in its suit alleging that a Florida couple fraudulently received benefits under their long-term care (LTC) insurance policies, a Florida federal judge issued an order entering judgment in Prudential’s favor, stating that Prudential will recover more than $1.9 million in damages from the couple.

  • April 02, 2025

    Missouri Appeals Court Finds Expert Wrongly Excluded In Forklift Injury Case

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A divided Missouri appeals court on April 1 ruled that a trial court erred in finding that testimony from an expert in a forklift injury case was inadmissible and reversed a summary judgment award, but two judges filed dissents, contending that the trial court did not abuse its discretion.

  • April 01, 2025

    Expert Can Opine On Class Certification Processes In TCPA Case, Judge Says

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge deemed testimony of an expert retained in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case admissible in opining on how to provide notice to potential class members.

  • March 31, 2025

    11th Circuit: Battery Expert Properly Excluded In Deadly Tesla Case

    ATLANTA — An estate of a man who died in a fiery crash in a Tesla lost his appeal in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which affirmed a district court’s ruling that excluded the battery expert’s supplemental affidavit and his opinion about the alleged cell wall thickness defect.

  • March 31, 2025

    Judge Reconsiders Prior Order, Refuses To Exclude Plaintiffs’ Roundup Expert

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has ruled that a plaintiffs’ expert in an injury lawsuit alleging that the herbicide Roundup causes cancer can testify at trial, after reconsidering his prior order that excluded the expert. The judge said the court “clearly erred” when it excluded the opinion of Shalin Kothari on grounds that he failed to adequately account for random replication errors as a cause for cancer, which is a controversial theory advanced by Monsanto Co. expert Cristian Tomasetti.

  • March 27, 2025

    Judge Limits Testimony Of Expert In Cases Alleging Man Died After Leaving Hospital

    ALEXANDRIA, La. — An expert retained by a medical center cannot opine on whether a hospital action violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) but is otherwise qualified to testify, a Louisiana federal judge held.

  • March 25, 2025

    Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report

    Entries are in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony.  Experts appeared in the January, February and March 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • March 25, 2025

    Treating Doctors’ Opinions On Injury Causation Are Unreliable, Judge Finds

    DETROIT — Two treating physicians for a woman who alleges that she was injured when a charter bus on which she was a passenger collided with a semitruck cannot testify on causation after a Michigan federal judge found their opinions to be unreliable.

  • March 25, 2025

    Sig Sauer Loses En Banc Review Bid For Experts Ruling In Gun Design Defect Case

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an en banc hearing to review its ruling that while a district court properly excluded expert testimony on causation, it erred in excluding design defect testimony and reversed an award of summary judgment, rejecting a gun manufacturer’s argument that the ruling that expert testimony on causation is not needed in a complex design defect case “misapprehended Kentucky law.”

  • March 13, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Role Of The Expert Witness In International Litigation And Arbitration Proceedings

    By Nikki Coles and Jon Nicklin

  • March 21, 2025

    Subrogee Insurer’s Expert Can Opine On Origin Of Fire, Judge Finds

    CINCINNATI — A couple lost their effort to toss a complaint alleging that a fire that originated in their yard spread to a neighbor’s home after an Ohio federal judge ruled that an expert retained by the neighbor and her insurance company is admissible to opine on causation.

  • March 21, 2025

    Judge Excludes Expert In Stock Price Case, Grants Test Maker Summary Judgment

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah granted a diagnostic test manufacturer summary judgment in a lawsuit by stockholders for allegedly misrepresenting the accuracy of its COVID-19 tests after the judge found that the stockholders’ expert could not prove loss causation.

  • March 20, 2025

    Expert In Car Crash Case Can Testify On Future Lost Wages, Not Future Medical Care

    SEATTLE — An expert retained in a personal injury suit stemming from a car accident can opine on a man’s future loss earnings but is prohibited from “parroting the opinion of a non-testifying expert” on future medical costs, a Washington federal magistrate judge said.

  • March 20, 2025

    CPA Can Testify On Pumpkin Production Losses, Florida Federal Judge Says

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge denied a motion to exclude an expert retained in a breach of contract dispute, finding that a certified public account can testify on the amount of damages incurred when packing equipment allegedly failed.