February 28th, 2008
Daubert Motions Require Full Hearings
Courts must provide litigants with an opportunity to be heard before ruling on the admissibility of expert testimony - and in all but exceptional cases that requires courts to hold hearings with full briefing and argument, the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled in an en banc opinion issued October 4th.
Reviewing a personal-injury case in which two girls were severely burned in a school bus fire, the Supreme Court held that the trial judge erred when he struck an expert’s affidavit without a hearing and entered summary judgment. The court reversed the judgment and remanded the case.