Justices take up Confrontation Clause violation in rape case 
Published: June 28, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Crawford v. Washington, DNA, expert witness
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a rape defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights were violated when an expert witness for the state was permitted to render an opinion based on the results of a DNA analysis performed by a private laboratory.
Accident reconstruction video inadmissible 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 31, 2011
Tags: accident reconstruction, expert witness, negligence
A personal injury defendant should not have been allowed to introduce a video that purported to reconstruct a rail yard accident, the 11th Circuit has ruled in granting a new trial.
Expert can testify on benzene-leukemia link 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 23, 2011
Tags: Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, benzene, Daubert, expert witness, product liability
An expert had an adequate scientific basis to testify that a plaintiff’s leukemia was caused by his routine workplace exposure to the defendants’ benzene-containing products, the 1st Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
Expert testimony on grill fire excluded 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 28, 2011
Tags: causation, design defect, expert testimony, expert witness, product liability
A product liability plaintiff could not introduce test results that purportedly demonstrated the scientific principles underlying his expert’s theory on how a propane gas grill caused a house fire, the 8th Circuit has ruled in affirming summary judgment.
Expert can’t testify on DUI test’s margin of error 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 18, 2011
Tags: drunk driving, expert witness, Intoxilyzer 5000
A drunk driving defendant could not introduce expert testimony on the margin of error in the results from the breath testing machine used by law enforcement, the California Court of Appeal has ruled in reinstating a driver’s license suspension.
Medical malpractice may be cause of suicide 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: January 28, 2011
Tags: expert witness, medical malpractice, negligence, proximate cause
A wrongful death lawsuit may be based on a claim that a patient’s suicide was caused by post-surgical pain from a negligently performed medical procedure, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled in reversing a summary judgment.
‘Raw data’ for expert’s testimony needn’t be disclosed 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: December 3, 2010
Tags: expert witness, medical malpractice, negligence
A defense expert in a medical malpractice case couldn’t be excluded based on the defendant’s failure to disclose the raw data underlying a study the witness relied on to render an opinion, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled in reversing a discovery sanction.
Defense expert had limited duty to disclose finances 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: November 23, 2010
Tags: Discovery, expert witness
A defense expert in a personal injury case could not be required to make an exhaustive disclosure of his finances, the New Jersey Appellate Division has ruled in reversing a discovery order.
$20.5M verdict for welder overturned 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: September 9, 2010
Tags: Daubert, expert witness, product liability
An expert witness didn’t have a reliable scientific basis to testify that fumes from welding products were the cause of a form of Parkinson’s Disease suffered by a plaintiff, the 6th Circuit has ruled.
Premarin experts can’t testify on causation 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: September 2, 2010
Tags: causation, expert witness, hormone replacement therapy, Premarin, Prempro, product liability
Expert witnesses lacked a sufficiently reliable scientific foundation to testify that an estrogen-only form of hormone replacement therapy can cause breast cancer, a U.S. District Court in Arkansas has ruled.
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