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Mealey's Daubert

  • July 15, 2025

    Delaware Supreme Court Says Expert Testimony Improperly Admitted In Zantac Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A lower court “erred in adopting a standard that favored or presumed the admissibility of expert testimony,” the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in an interlocutory appeal, finding that the trial court was wrong to deny a series of motions to exclude testimony from experts who opined that Zantac containing ranitidine can cause 10 types of cancer.

  • July 15, 2025

    Judge Limits Some Experts In Case Alleging Defective Gas Container Caused Fire

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida agreed to limit testimony from certain experts retained by a woman who alleges that a faulty gas container caused a gas vapor to ignite, causing serious burn injuries.

  • July 15, 2025

    Dental Expert Can Testify For Government On Dentist’s Prescribing Practices

    TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal judge rejected arguments from a dentist accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that testimony from an expert retained by the government is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • July 11, 2025

    1 Expert In, Another Excluded In Case Filed By Former Inmate Over Medical Care

    CHICAGO — An Illinois judge ruled on a pair of motions to exclude expert testimony in a case filed by a former inmate who alleges that the deliberate indifference by the staff at a correctional center caused him to suffer permanent liver damage.

  • July 11, 2025

    Expert Cannot Opine That Man Suffered From Sexsomnia During Alleged Rape

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A sleep medicine expert cannot testify that a man accused of rape suffers from sexsomnia, a form of parasomnia, and had no conscious awareness or control of the alleged conduct, a Delaware judge ruled, noting that the ruling was an issue of first impression in the state.

  • July 10, 2025

    Ky. Federal Judge Denies Series Of Motions To Exclude Experts In Pelvic Mesh Case

    LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky federal judge presiding over a long-running case against a pelvic mesh manufacturer denied three separate motions to exclude experts filed by the manufacturer and a woman who says she was injured by the mesh.

  • July 10, 2025

    Wash. Federal Judge Rules Experts Can Testify For Worker In FELA Injury Case

    TACOMA, Wash. — Experts retained by a man who says he was injured after years of strenuous work on the railroad can testify, a Washington federal judge ruled, rejecting the railroad’s arguments that the expert’s testimony is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • July 10, 2025

    District Court Properly Excluded Portions Of Expert Witness Testimony, Panel Says

    ATLANTA — A district court did not err in excluding portions of an expert’s witness testimony because the expert witness’s opinions on the cause of the insured’s water and mold damages and the insurer’s alleged bad faith conduct were not disclosed before the insurer’s deposition of the expert witness as required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B), the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said July 9 in affirming the district court’s ruling.

  • July 09, 2025

    Device Maker Tells High Court Shortened Discovery Timeline Tainted Patent Trial

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical product company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a North Carolina federal court violated its due process rights by changing both the time to trial and the time for discovery in a patent infringement case for which the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has already ordered a new trial.

  • July 08, 2025

    Expert’s Exclusion Dooms Design Defect Case Alleging Faulty Blender Exploded

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted a motion to exclude an expert’s testimony in a woman’s case alleging that a defectively designed blender exploded and caused injuries, further ruling that without expert testimony to prove causation, the manufacturer is entitled to summary judgment.

  • July 08, 2025

    Ga. Appeals Court Upholds Decision To Exclude Experts As Unreliable In Mold Case

    ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that an expert in a lawsuit alleging injuries caused by mold exposure could not testify because the proposed testimony was unreliable, a Georgia appeals court said.

  • July 07, 2025

    Police Practices Expert Can Testify For Man Suing Philadelphia, Former Officers

    PHILADELPHIA — An expert retained by a man who spent 30 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder can testify on police practices, specifically that Philadelphia was on notice of allegations of corruption and improper police work from its homicide detectives.

  • July 03, 2025

    Judge Says Ethicon’s Expert Can Testify On Conditions Of Pelvic Mesh Devices

    LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky federal judge presiding over a long-running case against a pelvic mesh manufacturer denied a woman’s motion to exclude a female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery expert from testifying for Ethicon Inc., finding that the doctor’s testimony is reliable.

  • July 02, 2025

    Magistrate Judge: Testimony Limited To Facts Disclosed In Expert Report, Deposition

    MIAMI — A Florida federal magistrate judge ruled that experts retained by a man who alleges that he was rendered paraplegic due to a fall aboard a Carnival Corp. cruise ship cannot offer testimony based on opinions that were not disclosed in their expert witness reports or depositions but refused to exclude their testimony.

  • June 24, 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 and June 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • June 24, 2025

    Judge Allows Opposing Experts To Testify On Damages In Breached Contract Case

    SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana federal judge in a pair of orders largely denied motions to exclude expert testimony in a dispute alleging that a company breached a contract by entering mineral-related surface agreements with third parties, finding that most of the challenges go to weight and not admissibility.

  • June 24, 2025

    Federal Judge Won’t Allow Fingerprint Expert To Testify In Carjacking Death Case

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An expert retained by a criminal defendant is clearly qualified to opine on latent fingerprint identification, but his proposed testimony on whether a print fragment indicates that it was left by someone wearing a glove or covering is beyond his area of expertise, a federal judge in Puerto Rico ruled.

  • June 23, 2025

    Md. Appeals Court Finds Toolmark Testimony Inadmissible, Reverses Murder Conviction

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland appellate court on June 20 found that testimony from an expert in firearm and toolmark examination was inadmissible under the Maryland Supreme Court’s holding in Abruquah v. Maryland and reversed a murder conviction and remanded the case for a new trial.

  • June 23, 2025

    Expert Testimony Limited In Suit Over Carbon Monoxide Death After Vehicle Left On

    ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge ruled in a pair of orders that certain experts retained in a suit against Toyota Motor Corp. cannot testify in a design defect case filed by a woman whose husband died of carbon monoxide poisoning after leaving his vehicle running in a garage but denied a motion for summary judgment filed by the car maker.

  • June 20, 2025

    Judge: Expert Did Not Show Reliable Methodology In Calculating Economic Losses

    SHERMAN, Texas — A retained expert’s “entire opinion is based on his own ipse dixit,” a Texas federal judge held, finding that a woman who was injured in a car accident cannot offer the expert’s testimony that her injuries will result in a lifetime economic loss of $643,513.

  • June 19, 2025

    N.Y. Federal Judge Grants Gunmaker Summary Judgment After Excluding Expert

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge excluded testimony from an expert retained by a man who suffered an eye injury while shooting a Smith & Wesson revolver and granted the manufacturer summary judgment, finding that without that testimony, the man’s claims fail.

  • June 17, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear ‘Let’s Get It On’ Copyright Claims Against Sheeran

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 16 passed on a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a partial owner of the rights to Marvin Gaye’s song “Let’s Get It On,” leaving in place the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a New York federal judge’s finding that pop singer Ed Sheeran did not infringe on the Gaye classic.

  • June 16, 2025

    10th Circuit Affirms Experts Properly Excluded In Gun Design Defect Case

    DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 13 affirmed summary judgment for a gun manufacturer after finding that the experts retained by a man who accidentally shot himself while removing a handgun from its holster based their causation opinions on speculation and were properly excluded as inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • June 12, 2025

    Judge: Experts Can Testify On Need, Cost For Storm Damage Repairs In Coverage Spat

    DALLAS — Experts retained by homeowners in an insurance coverage dispute meet the qualifications to testify, a Texas federal judge ruled, though he partially granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment as to certain claims in the same order.

  • June 12, 2025

    Experts On Firearms, Suicide Risks Can Testify In Suit By Walmart Employee’s Family

    GREENBELT, Md. — A Maryland federal magistrate judge agreed to limit testimony from experts retained by the family of a Walmart employee who killed himself with a gun he purchased at the Walmart where he worked, finding that the experts cannot offer legal conclusions or use specialized legal terminology in their testimony.