Expert Testimony Excluded in Michael Mann Defamation Lawsuit

More than two decades ago, Michael Mann and two other climate scientists published an article in Nature. The article included a graph showing that the Earth’s temperature had been stable for 500 years but had spiked upward in the twentieth century. A year later, they extended the graph to cover an entire millennium, supporting their […]

Georgia Court Reinstates Malpractice Verdict Despite Expert’s Equivocal Testimony About a Nationwide Standard of Care

Gavel and Stethoscope on Reflective Table

Connie Lockhart was treated in a hospital emergency room in Cherokee County, Georgia. An emergency room physician, Dr. Glenn Bloom, mistakenly placed a catheter in her femoral artery rather than a femoral vein. The accumulation of medications administered through the catheter destroyed the tissue in her leg, resulting in its amputation. Lockhart sued Dr. Bloom […]

Defense Expert’s Opinion About Life Expectancy Was Properly Excluded in Washington Wrongful Death Case

Doy Coogan operated an excavation business. During his lifetime, he repaired several cars, as well as industrial equipment that the business used. To make the car and equipment repairs, Coogan purchased brakes, clutches, and other asbestos-containing parts from local NAPA stores. Coogan was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a disease that has only known cause: asbestos exposure. […]

Court to Evaluate Validity of Forensic Ballistics

A Virginia court will evaluate the validity of forensic ballistic and firearm examination. The Crime On February 17, 2018, 74-year-old Mary Jackson and her pregnant granddaughter, 33-year-old Tiffany Byers, were found shot to death at home. The body of Byers’ husband, 45-year-old Aaron Byers, was later found in a shallow grave on a property owned […]

Opioid Manufacturers Challenge Addiction Expert’s Testimony

The attorneys for the manufacturers of opioids have challenged the credibility of an addiction expert who testified that their client’s misleading marketing materials helped to cause the opioid epidemic that has plagued thousands of families in Long Island since the late 1990s. The Case The lawsuit at issue was filed in New York State Supreme […]

Improper Testimony of Human Trafficking Expert Deemed Not Prejudicial in Utah

The phrase “human trafficking” conjures images of buying or kidnapping children or young women from impoverished countries and selling them as slaves in developed countries. Those images do not necessarily produce an accurate understanding of “human trafficking” as governments have chosen to define it. While trafficking in the sense of buying and selling humans is […]

Expert Testimony Excluded Because It Was Based on Unauthenticated Fax Logs

Experts often base opinions upon data contained in documents. Sometimes the accuracy of that data seems self-evident. A log of fax transmissions printed out by a fax machine may seem like reliable data, but a recent decision from the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the data in the log needed to […]

California Limits Hearsay Testimony that Gang Experts May Give

Courts often apply rules of evidence that permit an expert witness to base opinions on facts that are not within the expert’s personal knowledge — that is, facts the expert did not acquire through personal experience or observation — if the facts are “of a type that reasonably may be relied upon by an expert […]

Mississippi Affirms Conviction Based on Groundless Expert Testimony

Curtis Valentine, while driving at a high speed, failed to maintain control of his vehicle on a sharp curve. Valentine’s vehicle left the road and crashed into a tree. His front-seat passenger died. Police officers who investigated the crash reported that Valentine was “acting crazy,” “irate, walking around,” and “constantly yelling.” Connie Dolan, an officer […]

New Hampshire Supreme Court Relies on Language Expert to Strike Down Voter Suppression Law

One of the nation’s many ongoing political debates involves the regulation of voting. Some people argue that voting, as the essence of democracy, should be as easy as possible. Others argue that voting rules should minimize the possibility of fraud, even if the rules make it more difficult to vote. Laws that make it difficult […]

ExpertPages Blog