Opinion ID: 2341867
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: lack of express findings of fact on the daubert ruling

Text: While the trial court may not have entered express findings of fact, the court articulated some basis for its Daubert ruling when it stated the following at the January 19, 2004, hearing: I have to make a requisite minimal determination whether or not I believe that the testimony is reliable, whether it is sufficiently trustworthy, and whether it's the general type of data upon which, in this case physicians or scientists, typically rely upon in forming their opinions. And it appears to me that both sides have that. You've got eminently well qualified experts and the subject of the majority of the attack with these experts is going to be on cross-examination in terms of the appropriate weight that the jury ought to afford their testimony and whether it is affected by this data on which they rely. The trial court affirmatively stated on the record that it had reviewed the material submitted by the parties relative to the testimony of the Gundersons' causation experts and concluded that the testimony was reliable. This is the minimum required for a Daubert ruling. City of Owensboro v. Adams, 136 S.W.3d 446, 451 (Ky.2004). In doing so, however, the court need not recite any of the Daubert factors, so long as the record is clear that the court effectively conducted a Daubert inquiry. Id. While this Court would prefer trial courts to include findings of fact in their Daubert rulings, failure to include those findings and conclusions is not automatically indicative of arbitrariness, unreasonableness, unfairness, or application of the wrong legal standard[,] and is not grounds for reversal. Miller v. Eldridge, 146 S.W.3d 909, 921-22 (Ky.2004). [T]he proper appellate approach when the trial court fails to make express findings of fact is to engage in a clear error review by looking at the record to see if the trial court's ruling is supported by substantial evidence. Id., at 922. From our review of the record, the trial court conducted an effective Daubert inquiry.