In a notable ruling for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s decision to exclude a plaintiff’s expert witness and deny...more
Eastern District of California Judge William B. Shubb certified a class of thousands of former NCAA Division I volunteer coaches who had sued the NCAA for anticompetitive compensation prohibitions. Originally published in...more
In high-stakes personal injury litigation, a qualified vocational expert with proven experience can mean the difference between a credible damages narrative and one that falls apart under scrutiny. Join IMS on Thursday,...more
The use of expert testimony in litigation is often a minefield of questionable “expertise” and even more questionable methodology. What was originally intended to allow scientists, engineers and doctors to explain complex...more
In high-stakes litigation, expert testimony that cannot withstand a Daubert or Robinson challenge can derail even the most well-prepared case. A failed Daubert or Robinson challenge can leave attorneys without their key...more
In EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, the en banc United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of a new trial on damages because EcoFactor’s expert’s opinion was unreliable under Fed....more
In response to the rapidly increasing presence of AI-generated outputs in litigation, on June 10, 2025, the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules approved for publication for public comment a...more
In a significant decision for plaintiffs litigating traumatic brain injury (TBI) claims, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma has denied a defense motion to exclude expert testimony based on diffusion...more
For anyone following the evolving admissibility standards for expert opinions relating to patent damages, the EcoFactor v. Google case is one to watch. In December 2024, the Federal Circuit granted Google’s petition for...more
February 11, 2025 Types : Alerts Meta Platforms, Inc. recently defeated certification of a class of consumers who claim the company lied about its user privacy safeguards and violated antitrust laws. ...more
Federal Rules of Evidence 701 and 702 govern the admissibility of lay and expert opinion testimony, respectively, in federal courts. Rule 701(c) helps paint the line between the two, providing that an opinion “based on...more
A recent decision by Senior District Judge Robert Payne on a Daubert motion in class action litigation against a pension fund offers some helpful lessons on challenging expert witnesses in the EDVA. Trauernicht v. Genworth...more
Expert testimony is the tool that enables litigators to elucidate concepts that require scientific, technical or specialized knowledge. However, a proponent cannot introduce expert testimony without demonstrating under F.R.E....more
If you don’t know where a line is, you can’t say whether someone has crossed it. That principle applies in spades to expert witnesses, particularly when their role in the case calls on them to help the jury understand where...more
Discovery deadlines exist for a reason. Although there are exceptions to every rule – and often a rule dictating how to handle such exceptions – litigants in federal court are expected to show their evidentiary cards in a...more
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Decedent James Grant Gooding was employed at various shipyards in Louisiana between 1970 and 1979. On March 4, 2020, he filed suit against a variety of premises...more
Peer-reviewed literature can be a powerful tool in attacking an opposing expert’s opinions. A solid, on-point article can do more than merely satisfy several of the so-called Daubert factors for assessing reliability – by...more
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, September 29, 2022 - The Callen Cortez (“Plaintiff”) matter has been previously reported by the Asbestos Case Tracker. At current issue is the...more
Federal Rule of Evidence 702—Testimony by Expert Witnesses—was promulgated in 1975 when Congress first enacted the Federal Rules of Evidence. Original Rule 702 simply stated that “[i]f scientific, technical, or other...more
No visit to New Orleans is complete without a bowl of gumbo. There are many preferences, of course, but every great bowl of gumbo has the same foundation. It is of no consequence whether you prefer Dooky Chase’s savory, porky...more
I’ve never really understood the saying “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” but I was reminded of it when I read U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s opinion rejecting the FTC’s efforts to stay or voluntarily dismiss...more
One trait of jurors is that, at the start of a case at least, they are not already savvy about the case’s subject matter. So, how do they learn? Through expert testimony. They won’t necessarily just sign-on to an expert’s...more
On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found in Moore v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-00056-LAG (11th Cir. April 22, 2021), that a surgeon serving as an expert who had not used the...more
It’s not easy getting a drug or device to market. From concept to launch, it takes years of work and the involvement of countless professionals from the engineering, medicine and regulatory disciplines. If the product becomes...more
It has been a tough year for science. On the social-science front, it seems that we have entered a phase where no one believes the polls. To conservative Trump supporters, the consensus of data showing the President well...more