Mealey's Daubert
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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.”
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April 13, 2023
10th Circuit Affirms Nurse’s Drug Conviction, No Error In Expert Admission
DENVER — The conviction of a former nurse convicted of diverting opioids was upheld by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found that the lower court did not err in denying a motion to exclude an expert who testified on the results of a drug test on the nurse’s hair.
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April 13, 2023
Smithfield Foods Settles Pork Price-Fixing Claims For $75 Million
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota granted final approval to a $75 million settlement between a class of consumer indirect purchaser plaintiffs (consumer IPPs) and Smithfield Foods Inc., one of the defendants in a multidistrict litigation accusing various pork suppliers of conspiring to stabilize and increase the price of pork.
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April 12, 2023
Boston University Granted Summary Judgment In Pandemic Closure Class Suit
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts granted summary judgment to the trustees of Boston University (BU) in a putative class complaint by students who sued after in-person classes transitioned to online-only in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, finding that school was entitled to the impossibility defense as a matter of law.
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April 12, 2023
Treating Physician Doesn’t Meet Admissibility Standards In Injury Case, Judge Says
NEW YORK — An expert retained by a woman who claims that she was injured when she fell inside a bank is inadmissible under federal standards, a New York federal judge ruled (Rachel Bell v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 20-2468, S.D. N.Y., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59378).
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April 12, 2023
Insured’s Expert Testimony Is Curtailed In Homeowner’s Coverage Dispute
HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge has partially granted and partially denied a motion to exclude an insured’s expert in an insurance coverage dispute for damage caused by a storm after finding that certain of the expert’s opinions aren’t admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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April 06, 2023
Louisiana Panel Affirms Award In Crash Suit, Finds No Error In Trial Court Rulings
SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana trial court did not err in denying an “emergency” Daubert hearing requested by a woman three days into trial for injuries sustained in a car accident, a state appeals court ruled April 5, also finding no error in other rulings brought up on appeal and affirming the judgment.
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April 06, 2023
10th Circuit: Firearm, Toolmark Testimony Correctly Admitted In Criminal Case
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a conviction of a man for being in possession of ammunition as a felon after finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing expert testimony from a firearm and toolmark examiner.
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April 06, 2023
Federal Magistrate Judge Limits Toxicologist’s Testimony In Cruise Injury Case
MIAMI — A toxicology expert retained by Carnival Corp. can testify on a woman’s blood-alcohol concentration at the time of a fall but cannot opine on whether intoxication contributed to the accident, a Florida federal magistrate judge ruled in a personal injury suit.