July 20th, 2023

Rarely Successful Daubert Motion Earns Attorney Michael Blum a Victory

A well-deserved congratulations is in order for Gross McGinley Senior Counsel Michael J. Blum who recently won a hard-earned summary judgment on the heels of a successful Daubert Motion.  This medical professional liability matter concerning an alleged birth injury involved over 20 expert witnesses, a dozen expert depositions, and countless hours of medical literature review.  Attorney Blum was able to refute the legitimacy of a Plaintiffs’ expert witness by proving that the expert opinion offered by the Plaintiffs’ sole causation witness was incomplete, incorrect, and based on a faulty review of professional medical literature. This recent matter took place in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  By setting forth testimony from his own expert witnesses and a complete review of current medical literature, Attorney Blum was able to demonstrate that the Plaintiffs’ expert did nothing more than cherry pick select information without providing complete facts and context, specifically omitting vital information to establish that no reliable scientific evidence existed for which Plaintiffs to base their claims.

A Daubert motion is a specific type of motion raised before trial to exclude the testimony of an expert witness. Once a Daubert motion is filed, the party seeking to admit the testimony bears the burden of proof and must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the expert possesses the requisite level of expertise, and the testimony is based on reliable methodologies. If the judge finds that an expert does not rise to the level of expertise required under Daubert or their opinion is not based on reliable science, then that testimony will be excluded from being admitted at trial. *

Successful exclusion of expert testimony as the result of a Daubert motion is rare, although often attempted. In October 2015, the Searle Civil Justice Institute (Searle), part of the Law & Economics Center at George Mason School of Law, published an empirical examination of over 2,127 Daubert motions from 91 federal district courts nationwide. 71% of which, 1510 cases, were brought by the defense. The Searle study revealed that defendants obtain at least partial relief 50% of the time and complete relief 25% of the time. ** The matter is now under appeal to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.  

 

*https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/insights/the-daubert-standard-a-guide-to-motions-hearings-and-rulings/#toc–daubert-motion

** https://www.iadclaw.org/assets/1/19/Product_Liability_November_2017-_2nd_Edition.pdf


Michael J. Blum is an experienced and dedicated litigator practicing with the Gross McGinley Medical Malpractice Defense team since 2004 joining the firm in 2008.

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