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Mealey's Daubert

  • June 03, 2024

    Judge Rules Funeral Home’s Coverage Claim Barred By Rainwater Exclusion

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on May 31 dismissed with prejudice a funeral home’s complaint in which it argued that it was owed coverage for damage caused by a rainstorm after a roofing company failed to secure the roof for the weather, finding that coverage is barred by a policy exclusion related to damage caused by water without damage caused to the roof.

  • June 03, 2024

    Monsanto’s Bid To Strike Expert ‘Unavailing’ In Verdict Appeal, Judge Says

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that a trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied a motion by Monsanto Co. that sought to exclude a plaintiff’s expert in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit in which a jury awarded the plaintiff $175 million in combined damages.  The judge said Monsanto’s allegation of error related to the admissibility of a plaintiffs’ expert was “unavailing.”

  • May 31, 2024

    Federal Judge: Expert Can Testify That Dangerous Railroad Crossing Led To Crash

    ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on May 30 denied a joint motion filed by a railroad company and Amtrak to exclude an expert who opined that a railroad crossing was extrahazardous and that its condition led to a collision.

  • May 31, 2024

    Michigan Appeals Court: No Error In Expert Exclusion, Summary Judgment Award

    DETROIT — A Michigan trial court did not err in finding that a medical expert failed to meet the admissibility standards under state law and that without that testimony, a woman failed to “advance a viable claim of medical malpractice,” a state appeals court held in affirming summary judgment in a medical malpractice suit.

  • May 30, 2024

    Judge Certifies Privacy, Publicity Rights Class Action Against Data Aggregator

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 29 granted a group of plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class action against a personal information data-aggregator website on behalf of two statewide classes accusing the company of violating plaintiffs’ rights of publicity and against misappropriation of name and likeness and denied the parties’ competing motions to exclude each other’s experts.

  • May 30, 2024

    BP: Magistrate’s Report Correct, Deepwater Horizon Case Should Be Dismissed

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. (collectively, BP) filed a brief in Florida federal court arguing that it should overrule a plaintiff’s objection to a magistrate judge’s report that recommended that the court dismiss an injury lawsuit brought by a man who says he developed cancer as a result of working on a clean-up crew following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

  • May 30, 2024

    Contractor Is Excluded From Testifying About Cabin Owner’s Lost Rental Income

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A general contractor is not qualified to testify about lost rental income arising from allegedly defective construction work performed at a cabin because the owner of the property failed to show that the contractor is an expert on the topic, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge found in granting a motion to exclude in part.

  • May 29, 2024

    Judge Certifies Class Of Consumers Allegedly Deceived By ‘Italy’s #1 Pasta’ Label

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 28 granted two consumers’ motion to certify their class action against an Illinois-based pasta manufacturer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by selling pasta products labeled with an “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta” statement and Italian flag colors and denied the manufacturer’s motion to exclude a plaintiff expert as moot.

  • May 28, 2024

    Judge Certifies Class In ESG Row Focused On Proxy Voting, Shareholder Activism

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Rejecting numerous arguments advanced by American Airlines Inc. and a related defendant in a suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge granted certification of a narrowed class that reflects the decision to drop one theory of liability.

  • May 28, 2024

    Georgia High Court Won’t Review Daubert Ruling In FELA Asbestos Case

    ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court declined to take a look at a ruling on the admissibility of an expert in a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) asbestos case, turning away arguments that the divided and “fractured” ruling at issue established that the court rushed the opinion and warning that unless the court addressed the issue, parties to every case could end up citing Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • May 23, 2024

    Judge Limits Testimony From 1 Expert In Flea, Tick Treatment Antitrust Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge agreed to limit testimony from an expert retained by a generic maker of pet flea and tick treatments but denied the generic maker’s motion to exclude the expert retained by the maker of Advantage and Advantix topical flea and tick treatments in an antitrust case.

  • May 23, 2024

    Expert Can Testify In Oil, Gas Contract Dispute; Judge Denies Summary Judgment

    CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming chancery court judge found that testimony from an expert retained in an oil and gas contracts dispute is admissible under Wyoming Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and separately denied a motion for summary judgment.

  • May 22, 2024

    J&J Wants Access To Asbestos Expert’s Lab, Simultaneous Testing

    TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson entities asked the federal court in New Jersey overseeing the multidistrict talc litigation to compel simultaneous testing in asbestos expert William Longo’s laboratory, telling the court the expert will otherwise deflect probing questions related to upcoming evidentiary briefing by continuing his claim that his opinions require looking through his own microscopes at his own laboratory.

  • May 22, 2024

    Flint Bellwether Plaintiffs Insist Expert Is Qualified, Evidence Rule Satisfied

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Bellwether III plaintiffs in the Flint water crisis litigation filed a response brief in Michigan federal court on May 21 arguing that a pediatrician they intend to call as an expert witness is qualified to testify and that her opinions satisfy the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • May 22, 2024

    New York Federal Judge Rejects Motions To Exclude Experts In Ski Crash Suit

    ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge ruled on dueling motions to exclude experts retained in a lawsuit stemming from a woman’s injuries suffered while she was skiing, ruling that both the woman’s experts on medical injuries and snow sports and the ski resort’s biomechanical engineering expert can testify.

  • May 22, 2024

    Experts Who Say Defectively Designed Honda Accord Led To Fatal Crash Can Testify

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont federal judge denied a motion for summary judgment filed by American Honda Co. Inc. (AMH) after finding that whether a defectively designed Honda Accord led to fatal car accident is in dispute and that the woman’s experts are admissible.

  • May 17, 2024

    Certification Of Blackbaud Data Breach Classes Denied; Ascertainability Not Shown

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — The named plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation over a 2020 data breach and ransomware attack experienced by Blackbaud Inc. failed to demonstrate that their proposed classes are “administratively feasible,” a South Carolina federal judge found, denying their motion for class certification while also taking the opportunity to resolve several Daubert motions.

  • May 16, 2024

    Chicken Growers’ Class Certified In Compensation Suppression Case

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted certification of a nationwide class of growers who accuse poultry processors of conspiring to suppress their compensation in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act and denied a motion by Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (PPC), the only defendant remaining after other companies settled the claims against them, to exclude opinions by the growers’ expert.

  • May 14, 2024

    Illinois Federal Judge Won’t Revisit Her Ruling That Causation Experts Are Out

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on May 13 denied a woman’s request that the judge reconsider her ruling that causation experts in a suit against Home Depot for injuries sustained in a store are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 because the experts were unaware of the woman’s “highly salient medical history prior to issuing their causation opinions.”

  • May 10, 2024

    Plaintiffs Seek Rehearing En Banc In Cancer Cluster Case, Raise Daubert Issues

    ATLANTA — Plaintiffs on May 9 filed a petition for rehearing en banc in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that a panel of the 11th Circuit overlooked “express misstatements of law” in the lower court’s verdict form that caused jury confusion, particularly related to the admissibility of expert opinion under the standard set in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., which resulted in a defense verdict in a cancer cluster lawsuit.

  • May 10, 2024

    Expert Who Says Theme Park Did Not Discriminate Against Deaf Man Is Inadmissible

    LOS ANGELES — The expert retained by Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. in a disability discrimination suit was barred from testifying after a federal judge in California on May 9 found that his opinions are unreliable and unhelpful under the standards set in Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • May 10, 2024

    Homeowner Cannot File New Evidence Of Personal Property Damaged By Chinese Drywall

    TAMPA, Fla. — A homeowner who claims that his home was damaged by defective Chinese drywall may not present new evidence of personal property damage one month before trial because he already submitted an itemized list of such damages and discovery has closed, a Florida federal judge found in resolving two motions filed by the drywall manufacturers.

  • May 09, 2024

    No Error In Expert Testimony, 4th Circuit Says, Upholding Drug, Gun Convictions

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 8 affirmed a man’s conviction for drug and related gun charges after finding that there was no reversible error in the district court’s ruling that the government’s experts were qualified to testify and that the defendant’s expert was disclosed too late.

  • May 08, 2024

    Maritime Injury Expert’s Background Doesn’t Match Testimony, Judge Rules

    NEW ORLEANS — An expert retained by a man who alleges that he was injured while aboard a 225-foot offshore supply vessel cannot testify because his expertise in mechanical engineering is unrelated to the opinions he is offering in this case.

  • May 08, 2024

    New Expert Offers Same Opinions As Excluded Experts, ASD-ADHD MDL Defense Says

    NEW YORK — The opinions of an expert retained by newly named plaintiffs in the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder “are a classic example of ‘made for litigation’ opinions that require heightened judicial scrutiny,” the defendants argue in a motion to exclude.