Mealey's Daubert
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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May 07, 2024
Nebraska Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Testimony In Trade Secrets Dispute
OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal judge rejected arguments from four former employees of an agricultural product distributor who are being sued for stealing trade secrets and confidential information when they resigned to work for a competitor that the company failed to properly disclose expert witnesses but agreed to limit their testimony.
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May 07, 2024
Limited Damages Renders Expert Testimony On Chinese Drywall Irrelevant, Judge Says
TAMPA, Fla. — A woman who says her former home was damaged by defectively manufactured Chinese drywall cannot introduce evidence about the estimated cost to repair the home because the damages sought are not available under the economic loss rule, a Florida federal judge found in mostly granting the drywall manufacturer’s motion to exclude expert testimony.
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May 06, 2024
Nebraska Supreme Court Says Expert Properly Excluded, Upholds Murder Conviction
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled May 3 that a lower court did not err in excluding testimony from an expert who opined that a man convicted of second-degree murder was in a “state of peritraumatic dissociation” during the shooting and affirmed his conviction.
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May 03, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms Expert Exclusion, Summary Judgment In Food Labeling Case
NEW YORK — A district court properly excluded testimony from experts retained by a class of consumers who alleged that an “All Natural” claim on snack foods and granola bars is deceptive or misleading, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said May 2, and because they failed to show that the company’s label would deceive a reasonable consumer, the court affirmed summary judgment and found that arguments that the court erred in decertifying the class are moot.
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May 03, 2024
Judge: Experts Are Unfairly Prejudicial In Suit Against Homeowners Association
DENVER — An occupational expert and a man’s four treating physicians cannot testify in a discrimination and retaliation case filed by a double amputee against his homeowners’ association and others because even if their testimony would be admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, it has the potential to be unfairly prejudicial, a Colorado federal judge ruled May 2.
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May 03, 2024
Judge: No Duty For Agent To Procure Policy Without Exclusions For Contractor
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge granted a procuring insurance agent’s motion for summary judgment on claims assigned to a couple by the contractor that defectively constructed their home, finding that the couple failed to establish that the contractor had entered into a contract with the procuring insurance agent that would require it to provide an insurance policy that did not contain policy exclusions that led to denial.
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May 03, 2024
Personal Injury Suit Moves Forward After Judge Finds Expert Witness Admissible
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a motion for summary judgment and found that an expert retained by the estate of a man who died after his lawnmower overturned and caught on fire can testify in the personal injury suit against the manufacturer of the machine.
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May 02, 2024
Appeals Panel Overturns $185M PCB Verdict Against Monsanto In Washington State
SEATTLE — A divided Washington state appeals court on May 1 overturned a $185 million verdict against Monsanto for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school and remanded the case to the trial court for an assessment of whether the plaintiffs’ claims are subject to the statute of repose in the Washington Product Liability Act (WPLA).
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May 02, 2024
Asbestos-Talc MDL Judge Affirms Ruling Allowing Refiling Of Daubert Challenges
TRENTON, N.J. — A ruling allowing the refiling of Daubert challenges in the multidistrict litigation involving Johnson & Johnson talc doesn’t throw out a previous judge’s ruling but simply complies with the 2020 ruling’s recognition that the underlying science could change and acknowledges amendments to federal rules, a federal judge in New Jersey said in an unpublished memorandum denying reconsideration.