In a sudden reversal and after more than more than five years of uncertainty, on May 23, 2019, the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that Daubert – not Frye – now governs the admissibility of expert testimony in Florida. See In re Amendments to the Florida Evidence Code, No. SC19-107, May 23, 2019.
Continue Reading The Daubert Standard Once Again Controls in Florida State Court
Frye Is Now, and Once Again, the Standard for Expert Opinion Admissibility in Florida
After more than five years of uncertainty, the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion in DeLisle v. Crane finally settled the debate over the standard for determining the admissibility of expert witness testimony in Florida state courts. Case No. SC16-2182 (Fla. Oct. 15, 2018). In a narrow 4-3 decision, the court rejected Daubert and adopted Frye. The outcome should come as no surprise. In 2017, in a rarely exercised move, the Florida Supreme Court declined to adopt the legislature’s 2013 revisions to the Florida Evidence Code codifying Daubert.
Third District Applies Daubert Retroactively
Florida’s first appellate review under Daubert occurred in Perez v. Bell South Telecommunications, Inc., 39 Fla. L. Weekly D 685b (April 24, 2014). The Third District Court of Appeals became the first Florida appellate court to apply the Daubert standard to uphold a decision by a trial court, excluding an expert from testifying at trial. The trial court had reviewed the expert’s opinion under the Frye standard that was applicable at the time it was deciding the issue. However, the appellate court correctly stated in its opinion that the law governing the admissibility of an expert’s opinion in Florida was the Daubert standard, not the Frye standard since the legislature recently changed the law. As a result, the Third District Court of Appeals decided in Perez to apply the Daubert standard in lieu of the Frye standard, retroactively. Nonetheless, the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s exclusion of the plaintiff’s expert.
Continue Reading Third District Applies Daubert Retroactively
Florida Court Says, “No Phishing Expeditions Allowed on a Plaintiff’s Facebook Page”
While it is true that social media has become one of the main sources for discovery in personal injury litigation, the basic tenets of discovery that apply to the standard document requests, also apply to this new technological source of information. The question of whether a demand for any and all information on the Facebook page of a grieving mother in a wrongful death lawsuit could lead to the discovery of admissible evidence relevant to her loss of consortium claim was recently addressed by the Appellate Court in Florida. In short, the Court’s latest decision on this issue was a message to defense attorneys that, although information posted on social media has limited privacy rights, the Courts will still not allow a defense attorney to engage in a fishing expedition of a plaintiff’s Facebook page.
Continue Reading Florida Court Says, “No Phishing Expeditions Allowed on a Plaintiff’s Facebook Page”
Why Do Florida Plaintiff’s Attorneys Dread the Application of Daubert?
Part 2 of Series on Florida’s Adoption of the Daubert Standard for Admissibility of Expert Testimony
The Florida legislature’s adoption of the Daubert Standard for admissibility of expert testimony took several sessions to pass as a well-organized Plaintiff’s Bar fought hard against it. However, the legislature’s affinity for laws that promote the growth of business within the state eventually won the day. Why did the Plaintiffs’ Bar resist?
Continue Reading Why Do Florida Plaintiff’s Attorneys Dread the Application of Daubert?