Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Daubert

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Rejects Writer’s Claim That Copyright Expert Was Wrongly Excluded

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a playwright who contended that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment to film production entities the writer accused of copying elements of her work.

  • October 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Slashing Of Medical Staple Patent Damages To $1

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Delaware federal jury’s finding that a medical technology company and affiliated entities infringed a single claim of a competitor’s patent on a surgical stapling product and also affirmed the judge’s decision to reduce the jury’s damages award from $10 million to only $1.

  • October 06, 2025

    Tenn. Federal Judge Limits Expert’s Testimony In Criminal Drug Distribution Case

    NASHVILLE — An expert retained by a nurse practitioner facing criminal charges alleging that she conspired to distribute controlled substances can testify, a Tennessee federal judge ruled, but he cannot opine on whether the nurse practitioner acted within the standard of care.

  • October 03, 2025

    Experts Admissible In Dispute Over Flagging Straw Purchasers Of Firearms

    MINNEAPOLIS — Experts retained by Minnesota and a retail chain of stores can testify in a case accusing the company of selling firearms to individuals it knew or should have known were straw purchasers, a Minnesota federal judge said, finding that the two experts meet admissibility standards set under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • October 03, 2025

    Some Subclasses Certified In Accellion Privacy Suit; Some Expert Opinions Struck

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — The plaintiffs in a consolidated class action over the hacking of software created by Accellion Inc. saw some of their expert’s testimony stricken for his lack of experience by a California federal judge who also partly granted the plaintiffs’ motion to certify several subclasses related to Accellion’s customers who were affected by the data breach incidents.

  • September 29, 2025

    Oral Arguments Postponed In Appeal Of Autism-ADHD MDL Expert Exclusion

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rescheduled oral arguments in an appeal over whether a district court erred in excluding testimony from experts retained by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after receiving letters from the parties in the wake of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announcing a possible link between the use of the drug and the disorders.

  • September 26, 2025

    9th Circuit: Expert Properly Excluded In Roundup Case, Summary Judgment Affirmed

    SAN FRANCISCIO — A federal judge acted within his discretion under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. in excluding testimony from a causation expert retained by a man who sued Monsanto Co. for allegedly causing his cancer as a result of exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 25 in affirming summary judgment for Monsanto.

  • September 25, 2025

    EcoFactor To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Vacate Jury’s Patent Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Google LLC on Sept. 24 waived its right to a respond to a smart thermostat company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company argues that the en banc Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to order a Texas federal judge hold a new trial on damages wrongly eschewed the jury’s factual findings in its favor.

  • September 24, 2025

    Fracking Operator: Plaintiffs’ Experts Fail Standard Under Rule Of Evidence 702

    PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing company has filed two reply briefs in Pennsylvania federal court seeking to exclude plaintiffs’ witnesses in a royalty dispute, arguing that neither expert meets the standard for admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.  With regard to one of the experts, Barry Pulliam, the company insists that “given his admittedly questionable expertise,” the plaintiffs’ “attempt to slip Mr. Pulliam’s Count III opinions in the back door through hypotheticals fails.”

  • September 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 and September 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • September 23, 2025

    Expert Retained By City, Officials Can Testify But Only On Areas Of Expertise

    EUGENE, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon agreed to limit testimony from an expert retained in a police officer-related shooting case after finding that the expert’s education and experience do not allow him to testify on perception response time.

  • September 23, 2025

    Okla. Federal Judge: Expert On Value Of Contaminated Cattle Ranch Can Testify

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal judge denied a motion to exclude the testimony of an expert who opined on the property value of a ranch that was allegedly contaminated by a pipeline after finding that an expert who opined on the value of a property meets admissibility standards.

  • September 22, 2025

    Illinois Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Life Care Planning Expert’s Testimony

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A life care planning expert retained in a medical negligence case can opine on the costs associated with the future care of a woman who alleges that her medical treatment was inadequate but cannot base that testimony on her selection of necessary medical codes, an Illinois federal judge ruled Sept. 19.

  • September 22, 2025

    Expert Can Opine On Accuracy Of Drug Testing Results In Discrimination Dispute

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A man who alleges that a pre-employment drug screening test is discriminatory because it yields inaccurate results from porous or curly hair types common in African Americans lost his bid on Sept. 19 to bar testimony from an expert retained by the employer, which opined that the positive result for cocaine in the man’s test was accurate, when a federal magistrate judge found that the man’s arguments went to the weight of the evidence.

  • September 19, 2025

    Judge Limits Expert Testimony In Discrimination Suit Against School District

    INDIANAPOLIS — Experts retained in a lawsuit brought by a transgender student who sued his school district for its refusal to allow him to use the bathroom of his choice cannot offer testimony that is irrelevant to the facts in dispute in the case, an Indiana federal judge ruled.

  • September 19, 2025

    Prison Doctor Wins Summary Judgment After Expert Out In Deliberate Indifference Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — An expert retained by a former inmate who alleges that delayed medical care worsened his injuries cannot testify after a federal judge in Virigina found that his report does not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and that his medical opinions are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • September 19, 2025

    Experts Out In Gun Design Defect Case; Manufacturer Wins Summary Judgment

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge granted summary judgment to a gun manufacturer after excluding two experts retained by a man who claims that his firearm accidently discharged and caused injuries.

  • September 18, 2025

    J&J Wants Causation Experts, Longo’s Testing Excluded From Coordinated Talc Cases

    LOS ANGELES — Following a partial win on upcoming bellwether trials, Johnson & Johnson entities asked the Los Angeles judge overseeing coordinated asbestos-talc ovarian cancer proceedings to exclude the plaintiffs’ general causation experts and expert William Longo’s testing and opinions, saying the experts twist and misreport findings and are not reliable.

  • September 16, 2025

    Judge Certifies New York Class, Denies California Class In Elderberry Extract Suit

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted a motion to certify a New York state class accusing the maker of a dietary supplement that contains elderberry extract of deceiving consumers with misleading label statements, denied the motion as to a California class bringing claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) because the claims are barred due to a previous California suit, and denied a defense motion to exclude the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses.

  • September 16, 2025

    Ladder Company Awarded Summary Judgment After Expert Deemed Inadmissible

    ST. LOUIS — A ladder manufacturer secured a summary judgment award after a Missouri federal judge found that a man’s expert was unqualified to render an opinion on a manufacturing defect under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • September 15, 2025

    Valsartan Special Master Won’t Exclude Expert Who Cited AI-Generated Sources

    CAMDEN, N.J. — The special master in the valsartan, losartan and irbesartan hypertension drugs multidistrict litigation pending in a New Jersey federal court denied a motion to exclude an expert retained by a bellwether plaintiff, finding that the expert’s citation to nonexistent sources due to his use of artificial intelligence did not warrant exclusion.

  • September 11, 2025

    Groups Urge 4th Circuit To Rehear En Banc Ethylene Oxide Case Over Disputed Expert

    RICHMOND, Va. — Two groups have filed amicus curiae briefs in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support of a petition for rehearing en banc sought by Union Carbide following a split opinion reversing a lower court’s ruling that had granted summary judgment on standing to Union Carbide in a lawsuit over exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO). In one amicus brief, Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ) contend that the Fourth Circuit majority applied an incorrect legal standard related to the admissibility of an expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • September 11, 2025

    Government: Causation Lacking In Camp Lejeune Case, Experts Fail Evidence Standard

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government has filed a brief in support of a motion for partial summary judgment in the Camp Lejeune water crisis multidistrict litigation in North Carolina federal court arguing that the plaintiffs lack evidence supporting general causation as between exposure to dichloroethylene (DCE) and what are called Track 1 diseases. In addition to the government’s motion regarding DCE, it filed a raft of pleadings seeking to exclude multiple plaintiffs’ experts pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in various individual actions that are part of the MDL.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge: Expert Retained By Ex-Employees Can Opine On Value Of Stock Options

    NEW ORLEANS — An expert retained by former employees of a smoothie franchise company can testify on the value of stock options they allege were wrongfully revoked after they left the company, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Sept. 9 in denying a motion to exclude.

  • September 08, 2025

    Drug Trafficking Expert Allowed In Criminal Case With Limited Testimony

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge largely denied a motion to exclude testimony from an expert on drug trafficking in a criminal case, though the judge agreed to bar testimony on the addictive nature of fentanyl statistics, finding that the testimony would be more prejudicial than probative.