Mealey's Daubert
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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.
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July 22, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Allows Rebuttal Witness In Trademark Infringement Dispute
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge rejected efforts to exclude a rebuttal witness retained to dispute another expert who opines on the likelihood of confusion between trademarks owned by competing aftermarket wheel manufacturers.
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July 22, 2024
Judge In Written Order After Trial Says Expert On Sexual Grooming Admissible
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge on July 19 said that “every appellate court to consider the issue, including the Tenth Circuit [U.S. Court of Appeals], permits expert testimony about grooming” in criminal cases against child sexual abusers and denied a motion to exclude that was filed before trial; the order was not released until after the man had been convicted.
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July 19, 2024
Judge: Expert Testimony That Injuries Related To Crash Unsupported By Evidence
NEWARK, N.J. — An expert who opined that it is possible that a man suffered a stroke as a result of injuries he received during a tractor-trailer collision cannot testify because his conclusions do not meet to the standards set under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, Fed. R. Evid. 702, and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), a New Jersey federal judge ruled July 18.
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July 19, 2024
Judge Allows Competing Medical, Use Of Force Experts In Case Filed By Inmate
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge ruled on competing motions to exclude medical and excessive force experts in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleges that he was injured while an inmate at a California state prison.
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July 16, 2024
Judge Allows Expert To Opine If Speed Of Crash Supports Alleged Injuries
OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal judge on July 15 denied a couple’s motion to exclude testimony from an expert opining on the speed, impact, energy and severity of a collision, finding that the arguments for exclusion go to weight, not admissibility.
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July 12, 2024
Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD MDL Judge Rejects Admissibility Of New Causation Expert
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has granted a motion to exclude testimony from an expert opining that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); the expert was retained after the judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation in December found that previously named experts were inadmissible.
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July 11, 2024
Magistrate Judge OKs Expert Testimony In Case Alleging Death Stemmed From Crash
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida agreed to limit certain opinions offered by a medical examiner in a wrongful death suit stemming from an overdose of opioid medication but found that his other testimony is admissible and further ruled that a rebuttal witness can testify on possible causes of a woman’s injuries.
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July 11, 2024
Mineral Rights Owners: Defense Expert Lacks Methodology, Evidence Rules Not Met
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mineral rights holders have filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should exclude the testimony of defense expert David M. Posner on grounds that he has “no discernible methodology and a limited factual basis for his opinions” and that the defendants failed to meet their burden of showing that it is more likely than not that Posner’s testimony will be admissible pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 702.