National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Front Matter
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2006. Discussion of the Committee on Daubert Standards: Summary of Meetings. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11696.
×
Page 1
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2006. Discussion of the Committee on Daubert Standards: Summary of Meetings. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11696.
×
Page 2

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

1 Introduction IIn 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharma- ceuticals, Inc., laid out a new test for federal trial judges to use when determining the admissibility of expert testimony. In the Daubert case, the Court recognized that issues requiring expert testimony are, by definition, outside the realm of an ordinary juror's scope of knowledge. The Court ruled that judges should act as gatekeepers in the courtroom, assessing the reliability of the scientific methodol- ogy and reasoning that supports expert testimony as a condition of allowing such testimony to be presented to the jury. The resulting judicial screening of expert testimony has been particularly conse- quential in toxic tort litigation. The crucial contested issue in these cases is whether the defendant's product or emission caused the plaintiff's injury--a proposition that often cannot be proved without expert testimony. Consequently, how courts evaluate the admissi- bility of evidence of causation determines whether such cases end with a grant of summary judgment for the defendant--if the court excludes plaintiffs' expert testimony so that plaintiffs cannot meet their burden of proof--or continue and are heard and determined by a jury. In short, decisions on the admissibility of expert testi- mony can often determine the outcome of litigation. While the Supreme Court sought to bring better science into the courtroom, questions remain about whether the lower courts' application of Daubert accords with scientific practices. Supported with a grant from the Common Benefit Trust, the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law of the National 1

DISCUSSIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON DAUBERT STANDARDS Academies convened an ad hoc committee to consider the impact of Daubert and subsequent Supreme Court opinions and to identify questions for future study. During its meetings, the Committee did not seek to reach consensus and thus no recommendations are made in this summary report. The committee included individuals with expertise in scientific evidence, litigation, epidemiology, toxicology, and other areas of science and law. This document summarizes the committee discussions held in January and March of 2005. 2

Next: 2 Overview of Key Supreme Court Decisions »
Discussion of the Committee on Daubert Standards: Summary of Meetings Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $21.00 Buy Ebook | $16.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF
  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!