Expert Witness News, Articles, Reports and Reference Documents

Oct 23 ’17 — Arizona med-mal defendants may argue that an expert witness is unqualified and move directly for summary judgment without first challenging an expert’s preliminary report, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled, removing a step in tossing a case.

Oct 19 ’17 — Getting paid can be as challenging for an expert witness as the forensic work, collection efforts can be costly, and retainer agreements often not as ironclad as assumed, as two recent cases exemplify all too well.

Oct 13 ’17 — Qualifying an expert witness is a routine court procedure, except when the attorney appears clueless and the expert an unqualified bollix. To be generous, perhaps the attorney and expert in this case were unprepared due to a last-minute designation.

Aug 21 ’17 — Courts must reasonably allow expert witness supplements proferring new scientific evidence, unavailable when the original expert opinion was submitted, if that evidence directly impacts key criticisms of the original opinion, the Ninth Circuit has held.

Aug 14 ’17 — Failing to correctly diagnosis a brain injury in a medical exam and causing harm do not expose an expert witness to civil liability, an Illinois appellate court has ruled. The ethical questions, and its professional implications, are another matter.

Aug 1 ’17 — Florida has some of the more stringent requirements for serving as a medical malpractice expert witness, and running afoul of them can lead to a bad outcome — for the expert. Just ask Dr. Dellerson, an emergency physician who nearly lost his license.

Jul 26 ’17 — Referring to scientific principles and scientific methods in expert witness testimony may provide gravitas, but under Daubert, it risks having such testimony designated as scientific, and then having it fall under more stringent standards.

Jul 25 ’17 — Expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases may have some extra hoops to jump through if provisions in legislation passed by the U.S. House become law. While all eyes today are on the repeal of Obamacare, this bill may have better odds of passage.

Jul 17 ’17 — Two Nevada judges have banned a neurosurgery expert witness from testifying, finding that his expert opinions were too speculative and too biased to be admitted — and this in a state that does not fully embrace the Daubert standard.

Jun 20 ’17 — Medical expert witness reports must address proxmiate cause, making a good-faith effort to factually explain how and why a breach of the standard of care caused injury, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled, reversing the state court of appeals.