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Mealey's Daubert

  • January 27, 2026

    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 2026 issue of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • January 27, 2026

    J&J Asks High Court To Decide If Experts Must Meet Daubert For Class Certification

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A woman asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an extension to respond to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (J&J), which asks the court to rule on whether expert testimony on damages during the class certification stage must comply with Federal Rule of Evidence 702, Fed. R. Evid. 702, and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • January 27, 2026

    Judge: Genetic Experts May Opine Only On General Causation In Asbestos Case

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana judge partially granted a man’s motion in limine challenging two experts, saying they may offer general causation opinions on the role genetics played in mesothelioma but not opinions about the specific cause of the man’s disease.

  • January 27, 2026

    Texas Appeals Court Reverses Med-Mal Defense Verdict, Says Expert Wrongly Excluded

    EL PASO, Texas — A Texas appeals court remanded a medical malpractice case for a new trial after finding that a woman’s expert on the standard of care was wrongly excluded from testifying.

  • January 26, 2026

    Judge: Property’s Expert On What Caused Collapse Can Testify In Insurance Dispute

    PHILADELPHIA — An insurance company may disagree with the conclusions reached by an expert retained by an insured in a breach of contract case, “but that does not mean those conclusions are unreliable,” a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Jan. 23.

  • January 26, 2026

    Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Excluding Expert In Injury Case As Unreliable

    LAS VEGAS — A federal magistrate judge in Nevada recommended that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured in a Target store be barred from testifying because his opinions are unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • January 26, 2026

    7th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment For Lawnmower Maker, Allows Expert Testimony

    CHICAGO — A trial court did not consider opinions by an expert witness hired by a woman who was injured in a riding lawnmower accident who opined that an independent brake could have prevented the accident, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, reversing summary judgment for the lawnmower manufacturer and remanding the case.

  • 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, Tenn. — 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.