Aug 12
Stollings vs. Ryobi Technologies (7th Cir, August 2, 2013) involves a product liability suit for faulty design in which the Plaintiff sustained injuries on a power saw. Plaintiff planned to offer expert testimony from an academic named Graham that the installation of: “… automatic braking technology on all power saws would be socially beneficial because …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2013/08/seventh-circuit-pulls-back-on-daubert-expert-witness-exclusions/
Aug 07
On July 19, in re: Gregory Call vs. Pure Earth, et al, the Third Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that excluded expert witness testimony based on Daubert grounds. The matter was remanded for a new trial on damages. Although the Third Circuit addressed the specifics of this case in a manner that probably is …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2013/08/another-daubert-reversal-of-disallowed-expert-testimony/
Apr 03
In a recent bankruptcy case, a plaintiff valuation expert provided, without proper justification, 70% reliance on what the Court described as a biased application of the discounted cash flow (DCF) approach to value (an income approach) to determine her appraisal conclusions. The discounted cash flow analysis is a commonly-used, and conceptually excellent method of performing …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2013/04/valuations-of-larger-companies-must-carefully-consider-the-market-approach/
Mar 21
Lost compensation is a method of capturing economic damages in personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful termination, failure to promote and other similar torts. Independent damages experts are often employed to calculate lost compensation because of their unique background/skill set. However, the desire to minimize costs means that these experts are often employed after settlement efforts …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2013/03/lost-compensation-settlement-tool-allows-you-to-assess-economic-damages-accurately-and-efficiently/
Dec 30
Valuation in an eminent domain case is necessarily accomplished through experts. In County Of Glenn vs. Patrick Foley (California Third Appellate District, case no. C068750, November 26, 2012), the Trial Court was reversed with directions. The trial court had excluded the property owner’s valuation expert, thus effectively eviscerating the property owner’s case. The subject property …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/12/california-appellate-court-criticizes-expert-witness-exclusion-in-eminent-domain-case/
Dec 27
A Northern District of California case (Brandywine Communications Technologies, LLC, vs. Cisco Systems, Inc., Case C 12-01669 WHA), provides an analysis of the damage disclosure requirements that a plaintiff has in a patent infringement case. It applies equally to any commercial dispute. The Court started with the damage disclosures under FRCP 26(a)(1)(A)(iii), which states: A …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/12/another-example-of-a-plaintiff-waiting-too-long-before-addressing-damages/
Dec 20
Effective January 1, 2013, AB-1875 amends California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) Section 2025.290, which applies to oral depositions in civil cases. The revised law limits the deposition to seven hours of total testimony. Currently, CCP § 2025.290 does not contain any time limits on depositions. This revision brings CCP § 2025.290 more in conformity …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/12/californias-new-deposition-limitation-has-plenty-of-exceptions-including-experts/
Dec 16
In a unanimous opinion, the California Supreme Court clarified that trial courts may use either California Evidence Code Sections 801(b) or 802 to admit or exclude the expert’s testimony. Potentially, the Opinion widens California judicial authority to exclude expert testimony by placing California closer to the federal Daubert standard and the majority of other states …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/12/supreme-court-brings-california-closer-to-the-federal-expert-witness-admissibility-standard/
Nov 17
Courts are becoming more assertive in not allowing experts to testify. Because of the success obtained when an expert can be thrown out, filings to eliminate the other side’s expert(s) are become de rigueur. This article summarizes a study on this point. A New York court in re: Wathne Imports, Ltd. v PRL USA, Inc. …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/11/ny-appellate-court-reviews-the-basics-in-allowing-expert-testimony/
Aug 20
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 26(b)(4) was amended in 2010 to shield from discovery (i) drafts of expert witness reports and (ii) certain pretrial communications with expert witnesses. This article provides the details of this earlier change. Effective July 2012, the U.S. Tax Court “Rules of Practice and Procedure” were amended for the same …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/08/tax-court-expert-witness-discovery-catches-up/
