Mealey's Daubert
-
December 14, 2022
Judge Excludes 2 Experts In Crash Suit, Grants Summary Judgment For 1 Defendant
BEAUFORT, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge on Dec. 13 granted summary judgment to an employer being sued by a woman who alleges that she was injured in a car accident, days after agreeing to limit the testimony of one of her experts and excluding another.
-
December 14, 2022
Expert Can’t Testify That Timing Of C-Section Was Cause Of Injuries, Judge Says
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A doctor who testified that a woman’s postpartum hemorrhage was a result of her health care providers deviating from the standard of care and delaying a cesarean section is inadmissible, a Connecticut judge ruled, because the opinions are not supported by a reliable methodology.
-
December 14, 2022
Toxicologist Can Testify To Marijuana’s Effects On Skier Who Crashed, Judge Says
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont federal judge ruled that an expert retained by a ski resort can opine on the effects marijuana consumption would have had on a skier who was seriously injured after crashing into a snow-making machine, finding that his testimony is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and is not unfairly prejudicial.
-
December 14, 2022
Magistrate: Testimony From Expert In Trucking Crash Is Unreliable Under Daubert
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Allowing an expert to testify that a car accident would not have occurred if a truck driver had taken proper precautions and followed safety regulations and industry practices “would destroy the Court’s gatekeeping function” because the expert failed to provide a factual basis for his conclusions, a Wyoming federal magistrate judge ruled.
-
December 14, 2022
Zantac/Ranitidine MDL Judge Excludes General Causation Experts, Grants Judgment
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Florida judge overseeing the Zantac/ranitidine multidistrict litigation has excluded the plaintiffs’ general causation experts and granted the summary judgment to the defendants.
-
December 14, 2022
New York Judge Sanctions Arnold & Porter For Opioid Discovery Violations
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The New York state court judge overseeing an opioid case brought by the state of New York and two counties has sanctioned the defense firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (A&P) in Washington, D.C., ordering it to pay the state attorney general $155,000 in counsel fees and costs for failing to comply with the court’s discovery orders.
-
December 14, 2022
5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Design, Warranty Claims In Heart Device Case
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed the dismissal of a heart device complaint, saying the plaintiff pleaded adequately specific allegations to support his design defect and breach of implied warranty claims.
-
December 12, 2022
Magistrate Allows Testimony From Expert In Support Of Insurance Fraud Charges
MIAMI — An expert retained by an insurer that sued a group of medical facilities and their employees for submitting fraudulent claims may testify, a federal magistrate judge in Florida said, finding the arguments for exclusion best addressed through cross-examination.
-
December 08, 2022
Zostavax MDL Judge Dismisses 1,189 Shingles Cases For Lack Of Specific Causation
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the Zostavax shingles vaccine multidistrict litigation granted a motion by defendant Merck & Co. Inc. to dismiss 1,189 cases because the plaintiffs failed to provide prima facie evidence that their shingles were caused by the Oka strain of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) used to make the vaccine rather than the “wild-type” of the virus from childhood chickenpox infections.
-
December 07, 2022
Future Earnings Expert’s Testimony Is Relevant, Admissible, Federal Judge Says
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge ruled that an economic and vocational expert retained by a man alleging that he was injured when he slipped inside a Bonefish Grill restaurant may testify after rejecting the argument that his proposed testimony would not be helpful to a jury.
-
December 07, 2022
Louisiana Federal Judge Rules On Motions To Exclude Experts In Bad Faith Dispute
LAKE CHARLES, La. — In dueling motions to exclude, a Louisiana federal judge agreed to exclude two witnesses retained by an insurance company in a bad faith suit but found that two remaining experts are admissible because “the expected testimony will merely offer a difference of opinion,” which is not grounds for exclusion under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
-
December 05, 2022
Judge: Economic Damages Expert Can Testify In Employment Discrimination Spat
WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge refused to exclude an expert retained by the U.S. Department of Defense to opine on economic damages suffered by a man who sued for employment discrimination, finding that the former employee failed to show that the expert did not meet the admissibility standards in Daubert.
-
December 02, 2022
Judge: Orthopedic Surgeon Can Opine On Future Surgeries In Collision Case
EL PASO, Texas — An expert retained to testify on a man’s need for future surgeries based his opinions on a factual foundation, a Texas federal judge ruled, dismissing a trucking company’s arguments that his opinions are speculative and should be excluded.
-
December 02, 2022
4th Circuit: No Error In Excluding Expert Testifying Against Motorcycle Company
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a lower court properly excluded the “highly speculative opinion” offered by a liability expert retained by the estate of a man killed in a motorcycle accident, affirming summary judgment awarded to the company.
-
November 30, 2022
Illinois Panel: Construction Case Not Precluded By Voluntarily Dismissed Claims
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois appellate court panel affirmed a more than $168,000 award entered in favor of two homeowners in a construction defects suit and determined that the trial court did not err in finding that the builder failed to construct the house in a workmanlike manner and that the homeowners’ suit was not barred by a previous suit filed against the builder by the homeowners.
-
November 29, 2022
Class Certified, Daubert Motion Denied In Google Play Antitrust Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — A group of consumer plaintiffs that sued Google LLC for monopolization of the Android operating system (OS) app market saw their motion for class certification partly granted Nov. 28 by a California federal judge, who certified a damages class but not an injunctive relief class.
-
November 23, 2022
Trial Testimony Leads Judge To Exclude Expert Witness In Discrimination Row
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Based on an expert’s testimony during the trial of one firefighter accusing the Charlotte Fire Department of racial discrimination, a North Carolina federal judge agreed to bar his testimony from another upcoming trial, finding that the testimony is unreliable.
-
November 23, 2022
Missouri Federal Judge Allows Experts On Mental, Economic Impact From Fatal Crash
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge denied motions to exclude three experts retained by a mother who sued a trucking company and its employees for a crash that killed her daughter, finding that the experts’ testimony is relevant under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
-
November 23, 2022
Judge Limits Expert’s Opinions On Injured Athlete’s Lost Chance Of Scholarships
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A rebuttal expert retained by a high school basketball player severely injured in a car accident cannot testify on the player’s assertion that but for the accident, he would have played collegiate basketball on a scholarship and potentially been an Olympic high jumper, a Minnesota federal judge ruled Nov. 22.
-
November 23, 2022
Homeowners Tell 9th Circuit Judge Erred By Denying Certification In Defect Case
SAN FRANCISCO — A group of homeowners unsealed their opening brief to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in which they argue that a federal judge’s refusal to certify a class accusing construction supply manufacturers of selling defective foundational anchors and ties in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) was “peppered with legal and factual errors.”
-
November 22, 2022
Judge: ACA Section 1557 Gender Dysphoria Experts Reliable, Admissible
TACOMA, Wash. — Outside a single untimely submission, cross-challenges to experts in a gender dysphoria discrimination class suit involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act go to the weight of the testimony, and the opinions are admissible, a federal judge in Washington said Nov. 21 in mostly denying motions to exclude.
-
November 17, 2022
Judge Adopts Magistrate’s Recommendation To Exclude Expert Over Objections
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge denied the objection raised by an inmate suing prison officials for violating his constitutional rights to a federal magistrate’s recommendation that the inmate’s expert be partially barred from testifying.
-
November 17, 2022
Mich. Appeals Court Reverses, Finds Expert Wrongly Admitted In Impaired Driving Case
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan appeals court found that a circuit court and a trial court erred in admitting a police deputy's testimony as an expert drug recognition evaluator because his testing does not meet the state’s rule of evidence that incorporates the standards of reliability established in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
-
November 16, 2022
GEICO Seeks To Appeal UCL Class Certification In COVID Premium Credit Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — GEICO petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to appeal a “deeply problematic” ruling certifying a class of automotive policy holders who say GEICO violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by profiting from a premium giveback program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that certification was based on a flawed expert report that should have been excluded.
-
November 15, 2022
Medical Expert In Suit Alleging Botched Eye Surgery Can Testify, Judge Says
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A medical expert retained in a malpractice suit may not have used the “magic words,” but his testimony clearly identified a standard of care and his opinions are relevant and reliable under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Puerto Rico federal judge ruled in denying a motion to exclude.