North Carolina Court Disallows Expert Testimony About Impact of Methamphetamine Consumption Upon Shooting Victim

A defendant who alleges that he committed a violent act in self-defense must usually establish a reasonable basis for believing that his safety was threatened. Courts have recognized that evidence of drug use may be relevant when the defendant was attacked by a drug user whose violent conduct can be explained by the ingestion of […]

Judge Rules “Mask Experts” Unqualified to Testify

A Connecticut judge has ruled that a psychologist and ophthalmologist lacked the expertise required to testify as expert witnesses on the use of masks. The Mask Mandate In June 2020, the State of Connecticut Department of Education released a publication titled, “Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together.” The publication was Connecticut’s […]

Lawyer Is Qualified to Give Expert Testimony About Physician’s Right to a Hearing on Revocation of Hospital Staff Privileges

Gavel and Stethoscope on Reflective Table

Lawyers might be experts in a field of law, but they are not typically experts in the practices followed by other industries. The California Court of Appeal identified an exception to that rule in a case involving a lawyer who was proposed as an expert witness in medical industry practices concerning a physician’s right to […]

Expert Who Did Not Keep Time Records Deemed Unqualified to Testify in Maryland Medical Malpractice Case

At the urging of the medical and insurance industries, Maryland adopted an unusual law that limits the ability to call an expert witness in malpractice cases. At the time Brown v. Falk & Karim P.A. was litigated, Maryland law prohibited the use of an expert witness in malpractice cases if the expert spent more than […]

Utah Supreme Court Rules That Expert Testimony Went Too Far

The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that a district court went too far when it allowed an expert to offer undisclosed causation testimony. The Injury Noe Arreguin-Leon was injured while installing an exit sign on the shoulder of I-15. A driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and the car veered off the road and […]

New Damages Trial Granted Because Jury Ignored Expert Testimony

Bradley Myers sued Frank Sebastianelli and his business, Ameripride Fence Company, for personal injuries. Myers was employed as a truck driver. He delivered materials to Sebastianelli’s company. The only forklift at Ameripride was inoperable, so Myers attempted to unload the materials by hand. Bundles of pipe were placed across dunnage (similar to landscaping timbers) on […]

Illinois Court Refuses to Upset Conviction Based on Denial of Expert Eyewitness Identification Testimony

USA legal system conceptual series - Illinois

Andre Brown was convicted of murder on the strength of five eyewitnesses. He brought a postconviction challenge to his conviction alleging, among other grounds, that his right to due process was violated by the court’s decision to bar him from calling an expert in eyewitness identification. The trial court denied the challenge. The Illinois Appellate […]

Can an Expert Witness in a Criminal Case Give Remote Testimony?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take lives, courts have been cautious about protecting trial participants from the risk of infection. Many trials have been delayed. When a criminal defendant is detained while awaiting trial, however, judges must weigh the defendant’s right to a speedy trial against the dangers of holding a trial. Criminal trials […]

Prosecutor Receives Qualified Immunity for Flawed Investigation of Bitemark Evidence

While expert evidence about bitemarks is widely discredited as unreliable, it has played an unfortunate role in assuring the wrongful convictions of innocent defendants. A defendant in Pennsylvania whose conviction was overturned because (among other reasons) it was based on bitemark evidence sued the police and prosecutors for building a case against her that they […]

Internist Is Qualified to Give Expert Testimony About Hospitalist’s Standard of Care in North Carolina

Many states have adopted laws that limit the universe of potential experts who are permitted to testify about the standard of care in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The question before the North Carolina Supreme Court in Da Silva v. WakeMed was whether an internist is qualified to give expert testimony about the standard of care […]

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