Mealey's Daubert
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May 17, 2023
Expert Testimony OK’d In Indiana Appeal But Court Finds $4M Verdict Excessive
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals court found no error in the admission of expert testimony and photographs submitted in support of a woman’s slip-and-fall claims against a store but agreed that the $4 million jury award was excessive and granted a new trial to determine damages.
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May 17, 2023
Insurance Breach Of Contract Claims Survive After Judge Allows Causation Expert
MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama denied an insurer’s motion to exclude an expert retained by homeowners in a policy coverage dispute after finding that his testimony met the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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May 17, 2023
Magistrate: Safety Expert Out In Slip-And-Fall Case, Testimony Unhelpful To Jury
DENVER — Walmart successfully argued to a Colorado federal magistrate judge that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured after slipping on a floor inside of a store is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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May 16, 2023
2nd Circuit Finds No Error In Testimony Admission, Affirms Robbery Conviction
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 15 denied a man’s appeal of his robbery conviction, finding no error by the trial court in allowing an expert to testify that cell phone tower data placed the man in the vicinity of multiple robberies.
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May 16, 2023
Testimony Based On Medical Records Is ‘Unreliable’ In Crash Suit, Judge Said
ROANOKE, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia agreed that testimony from a neurosurgeon retained by a trucking company sued in relation to a crash involving one of its employees should be limited and excluded testimony based on certain medical records.
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May 16, 2023
Judge: Ballistic Methodology Widely Accepted, Admissible In Racketeering Case
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois denied a joint motion from four men facing racketeering charges to bar testimony from the government’s four experts in the field of ballistics but agreed to place some exclusions on the proposed testimony.
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May 11, 2023
Injured Man’s Experts Can Testify In Suit Against Cruise Company, Judge Says
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied two motions filed by Royal Caribbean to exclude experts retained by a man who alleges that he was injured while aboard a cruise ship because the objections to the testimony do not amount to an inadmissibility ruling.
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May 11, 2023
Judge Rules On 3 Motions To Exclude In Suit Against Dog Food Manufacturer
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge limited the testimony of experts retained by a woman leading a proposed class action against a dog food manufacturer, excluding one expert, limiting another and finding that a third is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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May 11, 2023
Veterinarian Can Testify In Animal Abuse Case, Wash. Federal Judge Rules
SEATTLE — A nonprofit animal rights group lost its bid to exclude a veterinary care expert presented by a roadside zoo in an animal mistreatment case because the judge found that though his opinions may be challenged through cross-examination, they are admissible.
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May 04, 2023
Medical Coding Expert ‘Has No Place’ In Slip-And-Fall Case, Federal Judge Rules
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge granted a man’s motion to exclude a coding and billing expert retained by Wal-Mart in a slip-and-fall case, citing previous cases in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found the expert’s testimony to be unhelpful to a jury.
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May 02, 2023
Michigan Appeals Court Reverses Exclusion Of Expert, Summary Judgment Grant
DETROIT — A Michigan appeals court held that a “trial court appeared more concerned with conducting a miniature trial” than adequately determining the admissibility of a causation expert retained by a woman who sued a nursing home for medical malpractice and reversed a grant of summary judgment and remanded the case.
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May 02, 2023
Va. Federal Judge: Life-Care Expert Is Unqualified To Opine On Medical Needs
ROANOKE, Va. — Testimony from a life-care planner retained by a trucking company exceeds her area of expertise because she is rendering medical opinions, a Virginia federal judge ruled, granting a motion to exclude filed in a car-crash suit.
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April 28, 2023
Tennessee Appeals Court Affirms Exclusion Of Experts In FELA Asbestos Case
JACKSON, Tenn. — A Tennessee judge properly excluded two experts who, while qualified to testify, lacked any scientific or fact-based basis for their conclusions that exposure to asbestos and diesel fumes led to a woman’s renal cancer, the state’s appeals court affirmed.
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April 27, 2023
Judge Partly Grants Extension Request After Denying Summary Judgment In ERISA Case
NEW YORK — After denying a motion for summary judgment in a class action that centers on one allegedly imprudent investment option, a New York federal judge on April 26 partially granted the defendants’ unopposed request for an extension of deadlines.
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April 27, 2023
Judge: Causation Expert In Postal Truck Accident Case Passes Admissibility Test
PHOENIX — The opinions of an expert retained by the government who concluded that the injuries a man alleges that he sustained in an accident with a postal truck actually predate the incident are admissible, an Arizona federal judge ruled.
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April 25, 2023
California Appeals Court Affirms Expert Exclusion In Onglyza Heart Failure Cases
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court has affirmed a trial judge’s exclusion of the sole plaintiffs’ general causation expert in the state’s coordinated Onglyza heart failure docket, the judge’s denial of alternative causation evidence or a new expert and his grant of summary judgment.
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April 25, 2023
Fla. Federal Judge Dismisses Case After Settlement Reached After Daubert Ruling
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on April 24 signed an order dismissing a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims that she was injured in a cruise ship bathroom after a settlement was reached days after the judge adopted a magistrate’s recommendations to exclude expert witnesses from testifying on the cause of the injuries.
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April 20, 2023
Federal Magistrate Rules Expert Admissible In Golf Course Maintenance Dispute
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal magistrate judge denied a motion to exclude an expert retained in a long-running dispute over maintenance of a golf course, with the magistrate judge criticizing the “Daubert motion cottage industry” and finding that the designated expert “seems like a fellow who could look at line items for course repair work and determine whether they were reasonable.”
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April 20, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge: Motion To Exclude Expert In Treadmill Injury Case Fails
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge was unconvinced by a treadmill company’s attempts to exclude testimony from a standard of care expert retained by the family of toddler who was injured when he was pulled under the machine while his father was using it.
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April 19, 2023
Trial Court Erred In Excluding Florida Toxicologist’s Testimony In DUI Case
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida appeals court found that a trial court erred in granting a motion to exclude filed by man charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide and barring testimony from an expert from the state opining on his blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash.
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April 19, 2023
Judge: Expert On Potential Damages Admitted In Employment Discrimination Case
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge denied a company’s motion to exclude a woman’s expert who calculated her potential damages in an employment discrimination case after finding that most of her calculations still allow a jury to reach its own conclusions but agreed to exclude calculations on damages the woman incurred after she left the company.
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April 19, 2023
Expert Cannot Testify To Possible Third-Party Perpetrator In Murder Case
PIERRE, S.D. — A woman charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter cannot use an expert witness to testify that a 10-year-old boy who was living with the girl could possibly have been the killer, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled, reversing and remanding a lower court.
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April 18, 2023
Cross-Examination Will Resolve Objections To Dueling Experts, Magistrate Says
MIAMI — Dueling motions to exclude experts retained by both sides of a homeowners’ insurance coverage dispute failed, with a Florida federal magistrate judge ruling that “vigorous cross-examination,” as noted under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., is the best way to resolve the objections on reliability.
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April 14, 2023
Magistrate Admits Most Opinions Of Reconstructionist In Motorcycle Crash Case
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An accident reconstruction expert retained in a vehicle collision case cannot opine on the proximate cause of the accident, but his other opinions are admissible, a Tennessee federal judge ruled in partially granting and partially denying a motion to exclude.
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April 13, 2023
California Court Rejects Petitions Challenging Expert’s Talc-Mesothelioma Opinions
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on April 12 denied two petitions from asbestos-talc defendants seeking review of the admission of expert testimony regarding fibrous talc as a cause of mesothelioma, an opinion one of the parties called “preposterous.”