{"id":895134,"date":"2018-10-30T12:17:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T18:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895134"},"modified":"2018-10-30T12:17:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T18:17:16","slug":"fla-supreme-court-changes-standard-admitting-expert-testimony-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/fla-supreme-court-changes-standard-admitting-expert-testimony-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Fla. Supreme Court Changes Standard for Admitting Expert Testimony Into Evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ernest Wagner | Marice Wutscher LLP<\/a> | October 25, 2018<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of Florida recently held that the Florida Legislature\u2019s 2013 amendment of the Florida Rules of Evidence adopting the federal\u00a0Daubert<\/em>\u00a0standard for admitting expert testimony was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

In so ruling, the Court returned Florida to the\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0standard for admitting expert testimony.<\/p>\n

A copy of the opinion in\u00a0Richard DeLisle v. Crane Co., et al.<\/em>\u00a0is available at:\u00a0Link to Opinion.<\/a><\/p>\n

The case involved the admissibility of expert testimony in a plaintiff\u2019s personal injury action against several cigarette manufacturer defendants. The plaintiff used multiple experts to establish that smoking cigarettes caused his cancer. The trial court examined the admissibility of the expert testimony under\u00a0Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,<\/em>\u00a0509 U.S. 579 (1993), the prevailing standard in Florida at the time of the trial.<\/p>\n

As you may recall, in\u00a0Daubert<\/em>, the Supreme Court of the United States pronounced the standard to admit expert scientific testimony in federal court. In doing so, the Supreme Court announced that Federal Rules of Evidence 702 had superseded the prior standard to admit expert testimony announced in\u00a0Frye v. United States,<\/em>\u00a0293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0Court had held that courts should admit \u201cexpert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery\u201d that had \u201cgained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daubert<\/em>\u00a0receded from\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0holding that to qualify as admissible \u201cscientific knowledge, an inference or assertion must be derived by the scientific method.\u201d This shifted the focus from \u201cgeneral acceptance\u201d to \u201cprinciples and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following\u00a0Daubert<\/em>\u00a0hearings, the trial court admitted the experts\u2019 testimony and the plaintiff prevailed at trial.<\/p>\n

The defendants appealed to Florida\u2019s Fourth District Court of Appeal. The Fourth District reversed for a new trial as to one defendant and a directed verdict in favor of another defendant finding under\u00a0Daubert\u00a0<\/em>that the trial court did not \u201cproperly exercise its gatekeeping function\u201d for several of the experts.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of Florida granted the plaintiff\u2019s request for review.<\/p>\n

The Court noted that it has worked with the Florida Legislature for almost 40 years \u201cto enact and maintain codified rules of evidence.\u201d In 1976 the Florida Legislature enacted the Florida Evidence Code. In 1979, the Court adopted the Evidence Code to the extent that it was procedural.<\/p>\n

In doing so the Court found that any evidence rules that were substantive in nature were the Legislature\u2019s responsibility, but that the Court had the sole responsibility for any procedural evidence rules or rules that govern \u201cthe parties, their counsel, and the Court throughout the progress of the case from the time of its initiation until final judgment and its execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, the Florida Legislature amended section 90.702, Florida Statutes to incorporate\u00a0Daubert<\/em>\u00a0into the Florida Rules of Evidence and to cease applying the\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0standard to expert testimony. The\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0rule was the standard in Florida before the 2013 amendment.<\/p>\n

The Court observed that in Article II, section 3, the Florida Constitution \u201cprohibits one branch of government from exercising any of the powers of the other branches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relevant here, Article V, section 2(a) gives the Court \u201cthe exclusive authority to \u2018adopt rules for the practice and procedure in all courts.\u2019 \u201d The Florida Constitution further provides that to repeal any court rule or decision, the Legislature must enact a law \u201cby a two-thirds vote of the membership of each house of the legislature.\u201d The Court concluded that the Legislature exceeded its authority because the vote to amend section 90.702 did not meet this requirement.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Court found that the 2013 amendment to section 90.702 was not substantive because it didn\u2019t \u201ccreate, define, or regulate a right. Instead, it is procedural because it solely regulates the action of litigants in court proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, the Court noted that to declare the 2013 amendment to section 90.702 unconstitutional it also had to \u201cconflict with a rule of this Court.\u201d The Court had little trouble finding that its rulings adopting the\u00a0Frye\u00a0<\/em>standard created a procedural rule because the Court may pronounce a rule in case law.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Court found the 2013 amendment to section 90.702 unconstitutional and reaffirmed \u201cthat\u00a0Frye,<\/em>not\u00a0Daubert,<\/em>\u00a0is the appropriate test in Florida courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applying\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0to this case, the Court noted that\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0does not apply \u201cto the vast majority of cases because it only applies when experts render an opinion that is based on new or novel scientific techniques.\u201d Against this backdrop, the trial court properly admitted the expert testimony because \u201cmedical causation testimony is not new or novel and is not subject to\u00a0Frye<\/em>\u00a0analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accordingly, the Court reversed the Fourth District\u2019s ruling and remanded to the trial court to reinstate the judgment in favor of the plaintiff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ernest Wagner | Marice Wutscher LLP | October 25, 2018 The Supreme Court of Florida recently held that the Florida Legislature\u2019s 2013 amendment of the Florida Rules of Evidence adopting the federal\u00a0Daubert\u00a0standard for admitting expert testimony was unconstitutional. In so ruling, the Court returned Florida to the\u00a0Frye\u00a0standard for admitting expert testimony. A copy of the… Continue reading Fla. Supreme Court Changes Standard for Admitting Expert Testimony Into Evidence<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[9895,98,99,94,10286],"class_list":["post-895134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expert-witness","tag-advise-consult","tag-daubert-challenge","tag-expert-testimony","tag-florida","tag-frye-standard","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nFla. 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