Mealey's Daubert
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December 16, 2024
Judge Agrees To Limit Testimony Offered In Defense Of Man Charged With Wire Fraud
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge partially granted and partially denied the government’s motion to exclude portions of testimony from multiple experts retained by a man criminally charged with four counts of wire fraud.
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December 16, 2024
Judge Bars Prosecutorial Standards Expert For Man Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder
PITTSBURGH — An expert’s testimony fails to support allegations that a prosecutor maliciously solicited and relied on false testimony to secure a conviction for a man who was later exonerated after serving 13 years in prison for three counts of murder stemming from a fire in an apartment complex, a federal magistrate judge ruled in granting a motion to exclude.
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December 16, 2024
Florida Appeals Court: Blood Alcohol Levels Expert Wrongly Excluded At DUI Trial
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida appeals court on Dec. 13 ordered a new trial for a man convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol after finding that the trial court wrongly excluded testimony from a clinical pharmacologist and toxicologist who would opine that the man’s likely blood alcohol level (BAL) at the time of his arrest was under the legal limit.
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December 13, 2024
Medical Expert Retained To Opine On Woman’s Medical Needs After Crash Can Testify
OXFORD, Miss. — A federal magistrate judge in Mississippi on Dec. 12 agreed to strike one statement from the report of an expert hired to opine on the medical condition of a woman suing for injuries sustained in a car accident but otherwise denied the woman’s motion to exclude his testimony.
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December 12, 2024
Va. Federal Judge Rules On Admissibility Of Dueling Trademark Valuation Experts
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in Virigina ruled that an expert retained by a company suing its competitor for trademark infringement will provide testimony beyond the scope of a juror and denied a defense motion to exclude the testimony but found that a competing expert failed to properly explain his methodology for his conclusions and granted the plaintiff company’s motion to exclude in part.
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December 12, 2024
Judge: Expert Can Opine On Lost Wages, Household Services In Accident Case
HAMMOND, Ind. — An expert retained by a man who was injured in a car accident can testify on alleged economic losses but may not opine on causation, an Indiana federal judge ruled in denying a motion to exclude filed by a trucking company and its employee.
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December 11, 2024
Medical Expert May Testify On Surgical Needs But Portions Of Testimony Excluded
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge agreed to limit the testimony of an expert retained by a man who alleges that he was injured in a car crash after his insurer argued that portions of the expert’s proposed testimony is outside the scope of a court’s order reopening discovery and allowing for a supplemental expert report.
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December 10, 2024
2nd Circuit Says Appeals On Exclusion Of Causation Experts To ‘Be Heard In Tandem’
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that four appeals filed by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but saw their claims dismissed after a New York federal judge in two separate orders excluded their causation experts “be heard in tandem by the same panel.”
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December 10, 2024
Law Enforcement Agents Can Offer Expert Testimony In Criminal Case, Judge Says
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma federal judge on Dec. 9 declined to exclude three experts named by the federal government who will offer testimony in a drug conspiracy and money laundering case, finding that their testimony meets admissibility standards and is not unduly prejudicial.
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December 05, 2024
Fingerprint Expert Properly Admitted In Case; No Error In Failure To Hold Hearing
CINCINNATI — A district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting a motion to exclude a fingerprint expert from testifying during a criminal trial, nor was there an error in its answer to a jury’s question, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
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December 04, 2024
Judge Grants Contempt Hearing In Asbestos Dispute Over Expert Moline, Northwell
NEW YORK — A New York justice on Dec. 3 issued an order scheduling a show-cause hearing on a motion seeking to hold an asbestos expert and her employer in contempt of court for “brazenly” ignoring court rulings after the state’s high court denied leave to appeal a decision compelling production of the identities of participants in expert Jacqueline Moline’s asbestos-talc studies.
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December 04, 2024
6th Circuit Vacates Certification Of 10 Classes In Nissan Auto Braking Case
CINCINNATI — Consumers who allege that various vehicles manufactured by Nissan North America Inc. and Nissan Motor Company Ltd. (together, Nissan) have defective automatic braking systems failed to sufficiently establish commonality when moving for class certification, and the lower court failed to perform the appropriate analysis of challenged expert testimony, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating a trial court’s certification of 10 classes.
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December 03, 2024
Expert Shouldn’t Testify On Prevention Of Death, Federal Magistrate Says
PITTSBURGH — A federal magistrate judge recommended that an expert be barred from opining that earlier medical intervention would have prevented a man’s fatal overdose at a drug rehabilitation center but otherwise recommended the denial of the center’s motion to exclude three experts under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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December 02, 2024
Dog Supplement Maker Seeks High Court Consideration Of Class Certification
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The makers of Cosequin, a pet supplement, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether expert testimony relied on to support a motion for class certification must satisfy the requirements for admissibility.
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November 26, 2024
Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report
Entries are ordered in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony. Experts appeared in the March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
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November 26, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Damages Expert Can Testify In Breach Of Contract Case
NORFOLK, Va. — A federal magistrate judge in Virginia denied a motion to exclude testimony from a damages expert retained by a spinal implant device company that sued a group of sales representatives for breach of contract after finding the proposed testimony to be relevant and reliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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November 26, 2024
Judge Limits Experts Who Can Testify On Man’s Future Medical Needs After Crash
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge presiding over a personal injury case stemming from a car accident ruled on three motions to exclude experts retained to opine on a man’s needs for future surgeries and medical care, finding that two experts meet admissibility standards but one is excluded.
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November 25, 2024
Child Abuse Conviction Affirmed By Mich. Court; No Error In Expert’s Testimony
DETROIT — A Michigan trial court did not err in allowing expert testimony on forensic strangulation in a criminal case against a man accused of abusing his children because the expert was qualified to testify under the state’s admissibility standards and his testimony helped the jury, a Michigan appeals court ruled Nov. 22.
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November 25, 2024
Motion To Set Trial Date Denied Without Prejudice In Long-Running RESPA Suit
FRESNO, Calif. — In a brief Nov. 22 text-only order, a judge sitting by designation in California federal court denied without prejudice a motion to set a trial date in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements.
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November 25, 2024
Expert In Louisiana Criminal Trial Cannot Opine On Defendant’s ‘Reasonable Fear’
GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appeals court in a split Nov. 22 decision overturned a trial court’s decision to allow an expert retained by a man facing manslaughter charges to opine on whether a victim’s actions created fear of bodily harm for a reasonable person, granting in part the state’s supervisory writ application.
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November 25, 2024
Judge Refuses To Exclude Norfolk Southern’s Expert In Ohio Train Derailment Case
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has denied a motion by third-party defendant OxyVinyls LP, which sought to exclude the report of an expert for the railway company Norfolk Southern in the litigation over toxic chemical exposure from the derailment of its train in East Palestine, Ohio, ruling that the exclusion of those reports would “unfairly eliminate a critical component of Norfolk Southern’s defense.”
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November 20, 2024
Expert Testimony Trimmed, Class Certification Granted In Defective Windshield Case
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge limited expert testimony in a proposed class action suit alleging that Kia Motors America Inc. knew that its windshields were defective but failed to disclose it to consumers.
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November 19, 2024
Judge: 1 Expert Admitted, 1 Excluded In Medical Malpractice Suit
HONOLULU — A Hawaii federal judge ruled that because a medical malpractice case is not being heard by a jury, an expert retained by the government can testify as the judge will be able determine the reliability of the expert’s testimony at trial; the judge also ruled that exclusion of a couple’s expert is the proper sanction for disclosing the expert after a deadline.
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November 19, 2024
Experts, Constitutionality Of Tooey Come Before Pa. Supreme Court
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Parties to a $3 million asbestos verdict affirmed on appeal briefed the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on whether a toxicologist was properly precluded from offering an opinion on specific causation and whether precedent allowing an employee to sue an employer when a workers’ compensation claim was statutorily impossible violated the state constitution.
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November 18, 2024
Expert For Veteran Convicted Of Lying For Disability Benefits Properly Excluded
CINCINNATI — There was no error in a ruling that excluded an expert retained by a veteran convicted of lying about the extent of disabilities to obtain more benefits, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the conviction, but the court remanded the case to the district court to recalculate the amount of restitution owed.