{"id":903826,"date":"2025-01-15T14:20:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T21:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=903826"},"modified":"2025-01-15T14:20:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T21:20:27","slug":"expert-testimony-daubert-or-not-to-daubert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/expert-testimony-daubert-or-not-to-daubert\/","title":{"rendered":"To Daubert Or Not To Daubert \u2014 That Is The Question: Sixth Circuit Weighs In On Expert Standards At Class Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Michael J. Zbiegien, Jr. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taftlaw.com\/people\/michael-j-zbiegien-jr\/?tab=professional-and-civic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Taft Law<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court established the standard for determining the admissibility of expert testimony in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/509\/579\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<\/em><\/a>, 509 U.S. 579. That decision immediately gave rise to a pressing question: How is Daubert pronounced? With a French pronunciation, i.e. &#8220;dough bear,&#8221; or a more American pronunciation, i.e., &#8220;dow (rhymes with cow) burt&#8221; or &#8220;daw burt&#8221;? (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BryanAGarner\/status\/941671373193338881\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>Garner&#8217;s Dictionary of Legal Usage<\/em><\/a>\u00a0says the last pronunciation is correct.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, courts have wrestled with another question: To what extent does the\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/expert-witness-lack-of-qualifications-daubert-challenge\/\">Daubert<\/a><\/em>\u00a0framework apply to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/expert-witness-testimony-federal-rule-clarifies-requirements\/\">expert testimony<\/a> offered to support motions for class certification? Last month, the Sixth Circuit weighed in and joined the side of those who hold that district courts must apply a\u00a0<em>Daubert<\/em>\u00a0analysis when challenged expert testimony is relevant to class certification in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov\/opinions.pdf\/24a0260p-06.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>In re Nissan N. Am., Inc. Litig.<\/em><\/a>, No. 23-5950 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>, the Supreme Court held that Federal Rule of Evidence 702 governs the admissibility of expert testimony and that for an expert&#8217;s testimony to be admissible, the court must find (1) the expert to be qualified, (2) the testimony to be relevant, and (3) the testimony to be reliable. 509 U.S. at 589. The Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits have held that these same standards apply when analyzing the admissibility of challenged expert testimony that is relevant to class certification. The Eighth and Ninth Circuits, on the other hand, have applied&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>&nbsp;in a more relaxed manner. The Sixth Circuit cites&nbsp;<em>In re Zurn Pex Plumbing Prods. Liab. Litig.<\/em>, 644 F.3d 604 (8th Cir. 2011) (using a subset of factors to conduct a &#8220;focused&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>&nbsp;analysis&#8221;) and&nbsp;<em>Sali v. Corona Reg&#8217;l Med. Ctr.<\/em>, 909 F.3d 996 (9th Cir. 2018) (using&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>&nbsp;to determine the weight of the expert evidence, not admissibility).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Nissan<\/em>, the Sixth Circuit joined the majority and held that &#8220;[i]f the challenged expert testimony is material to a class certification motion, the district court must demonstrate the expert&#8217;s credibility under&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>.&#8221; The court noted that the Supreme Court&#8217;s class-certification jurisprudence requires plaintiffs to &#8220;&#8216;satisfy through evidentiary proof&#8217; that they &#8216;in fact&#8217; meet the elements in Civil Rule 23.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Nissan<\/em>&nbsp;(quoting&nbsp;<em>Comcast Corp. v. Behrend<\/em>, 569 U.S. 27, 33 (2013)). The court then reasoned that &#8220;[i]f expert testimony is insufficiently reliable to satisfy&nbsp;<em>Daubert<\/em>, it cannot prove that the Rule 23(a) requirements have been met in fact through acceptable evidentiary proof.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Nissan<\/em>&nbsp;(internal quotations omitted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TAKEAWAY:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0<em>Nissan<\/em>\u00a0case sets the standard for analyzing challenged expert testimony at the class-certification stage, but questions about the use of expert testimony to support a motion for class certification remain to be resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael J. Zbiegien, Jr. | Taft Law In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court established the standard for determining the admissibility of expert testimony in\u00a0Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579. That decision immediately gave rise to a pressing question: How is Daubert pronounced? With a French pronunciation, i.e. &#8220;dough bear,&#8221; or a more&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/expert-testimony-daubert-or-not-to-daubert\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">To Daubert Or Not To Daubert \u2014 That Is The Question: Sixth Circuit Weighs In On Expert Standards At Class Certification<\/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],"class_list":["post-903826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expert-witness","tag-advise-consult","tag-daubert-challenge","tag-expert-testimony","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>To Daubert Or Not To Daubert \u2014 That Is The Question: Sixth Circuit Weighs In On Expert Standards At Class Certification - Advise &amp; 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