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Mealey's Daubert

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.
June 11, 2025
Government Says Its Camp Lejeune Expert ‘Reliably’ Applied Scientific Principles

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government has filed a response brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that it should deny the plaintiff leadership group’s (PLG) motion to exclude four opinions offered by one expert in the litigation pertaining to environmental and groundwater contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, arguing that the opinions in question “are the result of reliably applying foundational scientific principles and methodologies to sufficient facts and data” and contending that each of the PLG’s arguments favoring exclusion is “fundamentally flawed.”
June 06, 2025
Oregon Appeals Court Finds Firearm Mark Analysis ‘Not Scientifically Valid’

SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon appeals court found that the state failed to show that the Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners (AFTE) method used to link a defendant to a shooting is scientifically valid and found that a trial court erred in admitting identification evidence that led to a conviction.
June 06, 2025
Woman’s Expert In Device Defect Case Properly Excluded, 8th Circuit Affirms

MINNEAPOLIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a district court properly awarded summary judgment to a knee replacement system manufacturer after finding that testimony by a woman’s retained expert on her design defect claim was properly excluded.
June 05, 2025
Arizona Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Testimony In ADA Suit Over Interpreters

PHOENIX — An expert retained to rebut another expert’s testimony in a lawsuit brought by the estate of a deaf woman alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cannot opine on the decedent’s proficiency in speech and in reading and writing English and cannot opine on a shortage of sign language interpreters, an Arizona federal judge ruled, otherwise denying a motion to exclude.
June 04, 2025
Judge Refuses To Exclude Experts Retained To Argue For Class Certification

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied without prejudice two motions to exclude experts in a putative class action over whether an arts and crafts store falsely advertised discounted sales prices, finding “that at this point in the proceedings,” the testimony is not inadmissible.
June 03, 2025
Judge Limits Certain Expert Testimony In Data Collection Case Against Google

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on June 2 ruled on competing motions to exclude expert testimony in a case against Google LLC over data collection, finding that certain testimony is inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
June 03, 2025
Utah Federal Judge Limits Testimony From 2 Experts In Suit Stemming From Arrest

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah issued two opinions on the admissibility of experts retained in a case brought by a woman who alleges that her constitutional rights were violated during a strip search following her arrest for disorderly conduct.
May 29, 2025
Expert Can Opine On Addiction, But Magistrate Judge Limits Testimony In ADA Suit

PLANO, Texas — An expert retained by a county in Texas may be qualified to opine on addiction medicine, but he lacks qualifications to testify on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Denton County, Texas, policies and U.S. Department of Justice policies, a Texas federal magistrate judge ruled.
May 28, 2025
Winemaker Seeks To Exclude Insurer’s Expert Witness In Dispute Over Defective Wine

SEATTLE — A commercial winemaker moved to exclude the rebuttal testimony and report of an excess commercial general liability insurer’s expert witness in a coverage dispute arising from an underlying faulty vinification lawsuit over allegedly defective wine, arguing in a Washington federal court that the insurer’s expert’s testimony and report are properly excluded under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1).
May 27, 2025
Wisconsin Judge Says Lower Court Erred In Dismissing Case For No Expert Testimony

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin appellate judge ruled that a lower court erred in dismissing a case alleging that American Honda Motor Co. Inc. breached its warranty, finding in part that the court erred in requiring a man to present expert testimony to argue that a defect in the vehicle, and not a defect in the tires, caused the treads on the tires to wear rapidly.
May 27, 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 and May 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
May 27, 2025
Magistrate: Expert’s Opinions Should Be Limited In Credit Reporting Spat

PITTSBURGH — Testimony from an expert who was retained to opine on the accuracy of a bank’s report on a customer’s credit should be limited, a federal magistrate judge in Pennsylvania recommended, because portions of his proposed testimony usurp the role of the jury.
May 23, 2025
Full Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Damages For Google In Patent Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The full Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Texas federal judge should have granted Google LLC a new trial on damages after a jury found that the company infringed on a patent related to smart thermostat technology, finding that the judge allowed jurors to hear unreliable testimony regarding a royalty rate.
May 23, 2025
Expert Can Opine On Impact Of Puberty For Transgender Student Athletes, Judge Says

PHOENIX — A pediatric endocrinologist can testify as an expert for transgender girls who are suing over a ban in Arizona that bars them from participating in school sports after a federal judge rejected arguments from state legislators who intervened in the case that the expert is unqualified and plagiarized portions of his expert report.