Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Daubert

  • October 27, 2025

    7th Circuit Says Experts Did Not Prove Causation, Affirms Summary Judgment

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Lands’ End Inc. and Lands’ End Outfitters Inc. (together, Lands’ End) in a suit brought by airline employees who alleged that their uniforms caused symptoms such as rashes, headaches and hair loss, finding that none of the employees’ experts proved causation and that the employees also failed to abide by the warranty's terms.

  • October 21, 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 and October 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • October 21, 2025

    California Asbestos-Talc Bellwether Parties Brief General Causation

    LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs in consolidated talc litigation in California told the judge that their experts’ general causation opinions involving talc and asbestos are supported by the evidence and regulatory bodies and should not be excluded.  Johnson & Johnson and Red River Talc LLC filed replies arguing that the plaintiffs are misrepresenting the situation.

  • October 20, 2025

    Judge: Experts Who Opine Apartment Complex Owners Are Liable For Death Can Testify

    COLUMBUS, Ga. — Experts who support a woman’s claim that negligence by the operators of an apartment complex directly caused a fire that killed a man can testify, a federal judge in Georgia ruled, also rejecting a motion from the complex for partial summary judgment.

  • October 20, 2025

    Judge: Expert Can’t Testify Fan Was Not Defective Based On Unreliable Methodology

    DENVER — An expert for an exhaust fan manufacturer cannot opine that a fan that an insurance company alleges was the cause of a house fire was not defectively designed because he lacks the expertise to make that conclusion and because his opinions are based on an unreliable methodology, a Colorado federal judge held.

  • October 20, 2025

    Judge Says Expert Testimony Must Fit Disputed Facts, Limits What Is Admissible

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware agreed to limit testimony from an expert retained in a dispute over a contract for olivetol, an ingredient used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, finding that portions of the testimony lack a reliable methodology and cross into impermissible legal conclusions.

  • October 20, 2025

    No High Court Review Of En Banc Federal Circuit’s Vacating Of Patent Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 20 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a smart thermostat company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, in which the company told the high court that the en banc Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to order a Texas federal judge to hold a new trial on damages wrongly eschewed the jury’s factual findings in its favor in a patent dispute with Google LLC.

  • October 17, 2025

    Airline’s Economic Loss Expert Admissible To Opine In Dispute Over Grounded Planes

    SEATTLE — An expert can opine on behalf of a Polish airline on economic losses it endured when aviation officials grounded an aircraft manufactured by the Boeing Co. after reports of fatal crashes, a Washington federal judge said.

  • October 17, 2025

    Federal Judge In Okla. Says Expert Can Testify In Suit Alleging Man Died In Custody

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An emergency room physician can opine on whether a jail’s staff met the medical needs of a man who died in custody but cannot offer legal conclusions, a judge held in Oklahoma federal court.

  • October 17, 2025

    Panel: No Error In Excluding Testimony On Mental Health In Hate Crime Conviction

    RICHMOND, Va. — A man was convicted of two federal hate crimes “because there was a mountain of evidence that he assaulted his victims because of their race, color, and national origin,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found, rejecting the man’s argument that the trial court erred in refusing to allow an expert to opine on his mental health.

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge: Experts On Design, Future Medical Needs Can Testify In Broken Walker Case

    PHILADELPHIA — The manufacturer of a Rollator walker that a woman says collapsed unexpectedly and caused her to injure her shoulder lost its bid for summary judgment after a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled that the woman’s experts are qualified to testify about design defects and future medical costs.

  • October 15, 2025

    Fla. Federal Judge Says Hotel Security Expert Can Testify In Sex Trafficking Case

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A hotel security expert retained by a woman who sued the owner and operator of a hotel where here she was a victim of sex trafficking can testify, but a Florida federal judge agreed that certain opinions are inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • October 15, 2025

    N.J. Appeals Court: Testimony On Extracted Text Messages Proper In Criminal Case

    TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court affirmed a man’s conviction for charges related to a fatal car accident that he caused while driving under the influence, finding, among other conclusions, that testimony from a police detective who retrieved text messages from the man’s phone met the admissibility standards under State v. Olenowski (Olenowski I), which was decided during the trial.

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Defective Wine Coverage Dispute After Winemaker, Insurer Settle

    SEATTLE — The same day a commercial winemaker and an excess commercial general liability insurer filed a notice of settlement, a federal judge in Washington dismissed the coverage dispute arising from an underlying faulty vinification lawsuit over allegedly defective wine.

  • October 14, 2025

    Roundup Wave 9 Plaintiffs Say Experts Should Be Admitted Based On Prior Rulings

    SAN FRANCISCO — The plaintiffs in the Wave 9 cases in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) for the herbicide Roundup on Oct. 13 filed a brief in California federal court opposing Monsanto Co.’s motion to exclude all of their general causation experts, arguing that, based on previous rulings by the court, their experts should be admitted.

  • October 14, 2025

    Judge: Ballistics Toolmark Identification Testimony Admissible In Murder Trial

    TAMPA, Fla. — A firearm and toolmark examiner can testify to a potential match of ammunition in a murder trial after a Florida federal judge found that her testimony meets the admissibility standards set under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

  • October 09, 2025

    Court: Expert Testimony Showed Evidence Hurricane Caused Damage, JNOV An Error

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida trial judge improperly “supplanted the jury’s role as factfinder” when he reweighed photographic evidence and granted an insurer’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) after a jury considered expert testimony and evidence to find that Hurricane Irma created a hole in a home’s roof, a state appeals court ruled Oct. 8.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge: Expert Can Testify On Certain Topics In Construction Site Injury Case

    MONROE, La. — An expert can opine on what caused a scaffolding system to collapse at a construction site, leading to an injury, a Louisiana federal judge held, but the judge limited his testimony to topics beyond a juror’s understanding.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Device Maker’s Patent Discovery Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a medical product company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it told the 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.

  • 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.