Daubert criteria are applicable to all types of expert testimony in federal cases, including financial expert witness testimony.
In 1993, the US Supreme Court’s opinion in
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. addressed the admissibility of expert scientific testimony in federal trials, affirming a gatekeeping role for judges in determining the reliability and relevance of the testimony. In 1999, the Supreme Court’s decision in
Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael clarified that the Daubert criteria were applicable to all types of expert testimony, not merely testimony relating to science.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ research in previous years showed that Kumho’s broadening of Daubert’s application led to a steady increase in the number of challenges to all expert witnesses, and the results of our 2007 Daubert study of published court opinions certainly do not buck this trend.
In this latest study, PricewaterhouseCoopers examined 3,681 Daubert challenges to expert witnesses of all types in federal and state courts during the years 2000-2007. Findings indicate that the number of per-year challenges rose from 251 in 2000 to 704 in 2007, an overall increase in spite of a slight dip in the number of challenges between 2006 and 2007 — 741 challenges in 2006 (an all-time high) versus 704 challenges in 2007.
Publications Search Page
