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Mealey's Daubert

  • January 23, 2026

    Special Master Allows Asbestos, Causation Opinions In Talc MDL

    TRENTON, N.J. — In a more than 650-page report and recommendation, a special master in the Johnson & Johnson ovarian cancer asbestos-talc multidistrict litigation said plaintiffs’ experts could testify regarding causation and migration of talc fibers into the upper reproductive tract after perineal application, affirming a ruling originally issued in 2020.

  • January 23, 2026

    Md. Appeals Court: Detective Qualified To Testify On Origin Of Threatening Messages

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland appeals court rejected arguments from a woman who contended that a state trial court erred in allowing a police detective to testify as an expert on cell phones and upheld her conviction for perjury and making a false statement.

  • January 23, 2026

    Judge: Experts Can Testify In Bench Trial Before Ruling On Daubert Motions

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied without prejudice dueling motions to exclude experts in a contract dispute, ruling that she will hear the experts’ testimony during a bench trial and that the parties can renew their motions after that, if needed.

  • January 23, 2026

    11th Circuit: No Error In Excluding, Limiting Experts In Criminal Case

    ATLANTA — A trial court did not abuse its discretion in limiting the expert testimony of one witness and excluding another, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, affirming a former teacher’s conviction for sexually abusing his students.

  • January 23, 2026

    Defendants Score Summary Judgment Win In Pension Actuarial Equivalence Case

    MINNEAPOLIS — Concluding “that actuarial equivalence does not require reasonable underlying assumptions” and distinguishing five cases in which she said Ian Altman’s expert testimony concerning actuarial equivalence wasn’t excluded, a Minnesota federal judge excluded Altman’s testimony under Federal Rule of Evidence 702(c) and then repeatedly credited the opposing expert’s testimony in granting summary judgment for the defendants in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning early retirement benefits.

  • January 21, 2026

    Split Federal Circuit Says Judge Wrongly Excluded Experts From Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 20 reversed a Pennsylvania federal judge’s decision to exclude two expert witnesses in a dispute brought by a physician who claims DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and related DePuy entities induced surgeons to infringe certain claims of his patents; the panel majority held that the judge wrongly treated claim construction and survey methodology questions as admissibility issues and not questions for a jury.

  • January 20, 2026

    In School District’s PCB Case Against Monsanto, Haggling Over Experts Continues

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Burlington School District (BSD) and Monsanto Co. on Jan. 16 filed multiple reply briefs in Vermont federal court battling over the inclusion of witnesses in the BSD’s lawsuit alleging contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).  The BSD says there are numerous errors in the testimony of Monsanto’s experts, and Monsanto maintains that the BSD’s experts do not meet the standard set by Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • January 15, 2026

    Defense Expert Improperly Excluded In Fla. Slip-And-Fall Case; $5.5M Verdict Tossed

    MIAMI — An expert for Walgreens Co. who opined that a woman who fell in a store may have had a seizure due to alcohol withdrawal was improperly excluded, a Florida appeals court held Jan. 14, reversing a more than $5 million verdict in a slip-and-fall case and remanding the case for a new trial.

  • January 15, 2026

    Texas Federal Judge: Expert In RV Injury Case Out For Unreliable Methodology

    SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge found that a woman who sued over injuries she sustained when a wooden panel fell from a recreational vehicle failed to show that “it is more likely than not that” her expert’s opinions are based on a reliable methodology and granted a motion to exclude.

  • January 15, 2026

    Bard Port Catheter MDL Limits Causation Testimony From Manufacturers’ Expert

    PHOENIX — The Arizona federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device limited testimony from an expert retained by the manufacturers of the device, finding that his opinions relating to causation are not based on sufficient facts or a reliable methodology.

  • January 13, 2026

    Judge Limits Testimony From Expert Hired By Officers In Police Shooting Case

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge agreed that an expert retained by officers in an excessive force case filed by the estate of a man who was killed by police cannot opine on certain subjects as his opinions are unreliable or unhelpful under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • January 12, 2026

    Jury Returns Defense Award In Injury Case After Judge Excludes Expert Testimony

    NASHVILLE — A Tennessee federal jury returned a defense verdict in a premise liability case in which the judge previously ruled that an expert retained by a woman who says she fell on a man’s raised sidewalk could not testify because his opinions were obvious and not based a reliable methodology.

  • January 12, 2026

    Judgment Granted For Insurer In Water Damage Misrepresentation Coverage Dispute

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted summary judgment to a homeowners insurer in homeowners’ breach of contract suit over the insurer’s alleged failure to cover water damage to their home, finding that the homeowners made material misrepresentations in their policy application regarding, among other things, an existing defective roof replacement and their continued plans to undergo construction at the property.

  • January 09, 2026

    Expert’s Testimony Properly Excluded As Unreliable, 9th Circuit Rules

    PHOENIX — An expert retained by a plaintiff in a product liability case to prove causation was properly excluded under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 after the district court judge found his testimony to be unreliable, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Jan. 8, affirming a summary judgment award for the manufacturer of a portable camping fire device.

  • January 08, 2026

    Gender Dysphoria Expert Can Testify In Employee’s Discrimination Case, Judge Says

    CONCORD, N.H. — A gender dysphoria expert retained by a transgender woman suing her employer for refusing to provide her with health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care can testify in the woman’s discrimination case, a New Hampshire federal judge ruled Jan. 7.

  • January 06, 2026

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment To HDMI Licenser In IP Row With Component Maker

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc.’s (HDMI LA) motion for summary judgment on a breach of contract claim it brought against a technology company it said failed to pay royalties related to HDMI technology; the judge also held that the defendant entity failed to show that HDMI LA’s licensing agreement violated antitrust, patent or trademark law.

  • January 05, 2026

    Experts Cannot Opine On Negligence Theories Not In Complaint, Judge Holds

    OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal judge on Jan. 2 held that testimony from an expert retained by employees of Union Pacific Railroad Co. (UPR) who sued for injuries they sustained during their employment is limited “to the three theories of negligence enumerated in the operative complaint.”

  • December 23, 2025

    Experts Featured In Mealey’s Daubert Report

    Entries are in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony.  Experts appeared in the January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • December 23, 2025

    Mich. Appeals Court Says No Error In Excluding Nurse’s Standard-Of-Care Testimony

    DETROIT — A Michigan trial court did not err in excluding standard-of-care testimony from an expert in a medical malpractice case after finding that it was “too general and too unconnected to accept,” a divided state appeals court held in affirming in an interlocutory appeal.

  • December 23, 2025

    Federal Judge Finds No Error In Magistrate Judge’s Ruling On Expert Testimony

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge refused to reverse a decision by a magistrate judge that excluded one expert on police policies to testify in case alleging that police violated a man’s constitutional rights during an arrest but allowed another to testify, finding that nothing in the order is “clearly erroneous or contrary to law.”

  • December 22, 2025

    Testimony From Experts For Man Killed In Construction Accident Limited

    PITTSBURGH — Experts retained by the estate of a man who died of injuries from a workplace accident allegedly caused by a faulty cement mixer can testify on how certain design elements “could have caused [the man’s] injury, but not whether they did,” a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge said in partially granting two motions to exclude.

  • December 22, 2025

    Judge: Expert On Damages In Class Certification For Health Care Costs Excluded

    MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge in Wisconsin found that the yardstick damages model used by an expert retained by a company seeking to represent a class of self-funded plans and commercial insurers in a putative class action alleging antitrust violations in the health care industry is unreliable and granted a motion to exclude.

  • December 22, 2025

    Dietitian Can Testify In Negligence Case On Nutritional Need Standards

    BILLINGS, Mont. — A dietitian retained by the estates of residents who died while at an assisted living facility can testify on how assisted living facilities should monitor residents' nutritional status and needs, a Montana federal judge held, rejecting the facility’s efforts to exclude her testimony.

  • December 19, 2025

    Engineering Expert’s Testimony Limited In Product Liability Case Against Hyundai

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A Louisiana federal judge agreed to limit testimony from a mechanical engineering expert in a car accident case but largely denied the motion to exclude filed by a car manufacturer.

  • December 19, 2025

    Judge Says Amazon Policy Expert Admitted To Testify In Trademark Dispute

    MIAMI — A retained expert can testify on Amazon policies, a Florida federal judge has ruled, rejecting pleas from a company that alleges that unauthorized products were sold online and that argued that the testimony was inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.