The City of Chicago brought an enforcement action against two e-cigarette companies for 700+ illegal sales to minors. Though the Court entered judgment against the companies for the violations, it declined to hold the owner personally liable as an alter ego. It found use of age-verification systems did not constitute an unfair practice under the consumer fraud law. However, the Court denied the companies’ motion to exclude a marketing expert retained by the City, finding her opinions relevant to evaluating if their social media marketing unfairly targeted youth.
Read More →Tag: Daubert Motion
Court confirms the admissibility of the testimony of occupational medicine expert in employment discrimination case
In an Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 “ADA” discrimination case, the Court denied the Defendant’s motion to preclude expert testimony offered by the Plaintiff opining that certain medical guidelines were outdated. Though the Defendant argued the opinions were unsupported, the Court found the testimony could potentially assist the jury and weaknesses were better addressed through cross-examination and contrary evidence rather than outright exclusion. The Court emphasized letting the adversarial process test competing expert views.
Read More →Court limits fire and battery expert testimony in fatal laptop battery explosion case
This case arose from a December 2015 apartment fire in Everett, Washington that was allegedly caused by a lithium-ion laptop battery manufactured by Hewlett-Packard (HP). The plaintiff insurance company brought subrogation claims against HP for negligence and strict product liability under Washington law. The plaintiff retained two expert witnesses who opined that the fire was caused by an internal short circuit in the HP laptop battery, which then ignited surrounding combustible materials. HP filed Daubert motions challenging the admissibility of the two experts’ testimonies. The court excluded some opinions as beyond the experts’ qualifications or based on flawed testing methodology. However, the court found enough expert testimony survived to create factual disputes warranting denial of HP’s motion for summary judgment on the strict liability claim. Thus, the case was allowed to proceed to trial based on the admissible expert opinions that the fire originated on the bed where the laptop was located and may have been caused by the laptop battery.
Read More →Nebraska Court excludes Employment Law Expert’s testimony in Employment Discrimination suit
Plaintiff, Amanda Benson offered the testimony of Dr. Christiane Tellefsen, a forensic psychiatry expert and Amy Oppenheimer, an employment law expert to substantiate it’s claims of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against the Defendant, City of Lincoln. When City of Lincoln filed Daubert motions against both experts, the Court admitted the testimony of Dr. Christiane Tellefsen despite allegations of the testimony being based on an unreliable methodology but excluded the testimony of Amy Oppenheimer because it consisted of legal conclusions.
#WrongfulTermination #DaubertMotion #ForensicPsychiatryExpert #EmploymentLawExpert
Read More →Recent Expert Challenges
Expert Challenges, Fire Investigation Expert Witness
Expert Fire Investigator’s testimony determining the point of origin and cause of the fire found reliable
September 29, 2023
Accident Reconstruction Expert Witness, Expert Challenges
Court limits expert testimony on crash reconstruction and its contributing factors
September 28, 2023