CHICAGO — A federal district court abused its discretion in excluding an Illinois county’s statistician from testifying as an expert in a lawsuit alleging that Bank of America Corp. and other banks engaged in a massive discriminatory and predatory lending scheme against minority borrowers in violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (FHA) because, in issuing its ruling, the court misapplied Federal Rule of Evidence 702, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., the county argues in a June 15 appellant brief filed in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 15 affirmed summary judgment in a pelvic mesh injury case, agreeing that the plaintiff presented no admissible expert evidence that separate implants to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse did not perform as expected.
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on June 14 agreed to strike a report and exclude testimony at trial in an insurer’s suit seeking to recover $2.1 million for allegedly fraudulent no-fault insurance charges, finding a violation of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 because an expert witness retained by a health care clinic and its personnel “did not substantially participate in preparing the Report.”
DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas on June 14 issued a pair of opinions granting in part and denying in part an insurer’s motions for summary judgment and to exclude expert testimony in a coverage dispute stemming from The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Co.’s denial of coverage to a subcontractor for moisture and mold damages to a temporary building the subcontractor built for the U.S. government.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A real estate appraiser’s testimony on how much an allegedly defective home lost value is excluded because the data he used to derive the discount to apply is insufficient under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., a federal magistrate judge in Georgia ruled June 7.
BAY CITY, Mich. — Police procedure experts can testify for a woman who claims that her family was unlawfully detained and her home was unreasonably damaged when police executed a search warrant for her son, a Michigan federal judge ruled June 9 in finding that both experts met federal guidelines for admissibility.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Ford Motor Co. and other defendants on June 10 proposed a schedule for an upcoming hearing on defendants’ motions to exclude asbestos experts while in a separate motion argued that the court improperly denied it summary judgment in reliance on experts it moved to exclude.
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge presiding over a case in which a real estate owner alleges that a neighboring property’s negligence caused a hillside to slip granted a motion on May 26 to exclude an expert witness because of “inconsistent reports and testimony.”
HOUSTON — A law enforcement expert retained by a Texas constable accused of retaliating against employees for political reasons is qualified to testify but cannot opine on the reasons why the constable made employment-related decisions because the constable testified in his deposition that he doesn’t recall those reasons, a Texas federal judge ruled June 6 in partially granting a motion to exclude.
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 31 affirmed the exclusion of a plaintiff’s causation expert in a bone plate defect case along with the lower court’s summary judgment decision.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 8 held that a federal court properly granted an insurer’s motion to exclude an insured’s expert testimony in a coverage dispute over property damage caused by lightning, finding that the expert failed to demonstrate how his experience and expertise led to his conclusions about causation.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Viagra/Cialis melanoma litigation appears to have concluded June 7 when the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion by nearly 900 multidistrict litigation plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their appeals of an expert witness/summary judgment order and the appeals court dismissed the remainder of the appellants for failure to prosecute their appeals.
WAYCROSS, Ga. — A forensic pathologist who opined that an inmate who died in a Georgia county jail would have survived if he had been transported to a hospital is barred from testifying under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. because he is unqualified to testify on treatment, a Georgia federal magistrate judge ruled June 7,
DENVER — A physician who lacks experience in biomechanics cannot testify that a woman’s lumbar spine injuries could not have been caused by a rear-end accident, a federal judge in Colorado ruled June 6 in granting in large part the woman’s motion to exclude her auto insurer’s expert in a breach of contract and bad faith claim.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge on June 3 agreed to limit the testimony of an expert witness retained by a man accused of assault with a motor vehicle, finding that he is qualified to testify on accident investigations but not accident reconstructions.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A woman who claims injuries arising from a car accident properly disclosed her treating physicians as experts in her case against a tree company and its employee, and their testimony is reliable and helpful under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Florida federal judge ruled June 3 in denying a motion to exclude and a related motion for summary judgment.
SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing the Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) multidistrict litigation on June 2 denied several defense motions to exclude expert opinions regarding whether JLI and related entities illegally designed and marketed its e-cigarettes to cause a surge in youth vaping, but deferred consideration of certain challenges to experts’ opinions on e-cigarettes’ health effects.
JACKSON, Miss. — A chicken distributor successfully moved to exclude various expert witnesses retained by a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee who is pursuing claims that the company discriminated against Black chicken growers, a Mississippi federal judge ruled June 2, finding that the trustee didn’t prove the witnesses’ admissibility.
HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on May 18 allowed most of the plaintiffs’ experts in a chemical exposure case and granted certification of the class, as residents seek to hold a chemical company accountable for their injuries following an explosion to emitted multiple toxins into the air and groundwater following damage from Hurricane Harvey.
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge on May 25 denied an insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment in an uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) dispute but granted its motion to exclude an expert’s testimony in part, finding that some of his opinions constitute legal conclusions, which is impermissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.