Opinion ID: 2341867
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: lack of a daubert hearing

Text: Prior to trial, the Defendants/Appellants moved for a hearing pursuant to Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), to determine the admissibility of the Gundersons' causation experts who were slated to testify that Parlodel causes seizures in women taking the drug for postpartum lactation suppression. Sandoz and Dr. Armstrong argue that the trial court did not satisfy its gatekeeping obligations when it failed to hold a formal Daubert hearing and enter specific findings regarding the testimony of the Gundersons' causation experts. In Commonwealth v. Christie, 98 S.W.3d 485, 488-89 (Ky.2002), this Court stated the following relative to the proper application of Daubert in Kentucky: When faced with a proffer of expert testimony under KRE 702, the trial judge's task is to determine whether the expert is proposing to testify to (1) scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge that (2) will assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue. This calls upon the trial court to assess whether the proffered testimony is both relevant and reliable. This assessment does not require a trial court to hold a hearing on the admissibility of the expert's testimony. But a trial court should only rule on the admissibility of expert testimony without first holding a hearing when the record [before it] is complete enough to measure the proffered testimony against the proper standards of reliability and relevance. Usually, the record upon which a trial court can make an admissibility decision without a hearing will consist of the proposed expert's reports, affidavits, deposition testimony, existing precedent, and the like. Such a record is necessary in order to give a trial court an adequate basis for making its decision on the relevancy and reliability of the proposed expert's testimony and to allow for appellate review of the trial court's decision. Failure to make a determination on the admissibility of expert testimony without an adequate record is an abuse of discretion by the trial court. (internal quotations and citations omitted). In the instant case, the trial court had before it a mountain of discovery material, including lengthy depositions of the causation experts, affidavits of the experts, reports of the experts, a voluminous amount of scientific studies, reports and publications relied on by experts, and extensive briefing by the parties. At one point, the judge remarked on the record that the pre-trial record occupied an entire room in his chambers and that he had spent weeks reading the material. Further, on January 19, 2004, the court devoted an entire day to addressing the parties' motions in limine, many of which related to the admissibility of specific pieces of scientific evidence that were relied on by the Gundersons' causation experts and were challenged as being unreliable and irrelevant. The challenged evidence included case reports, adverse drug experience reports, and animal studies. Although this may not have technically been a Daubert hearing, the court heard lengthy arguments on the reliability and relevancy of the scientific evidence underlying the Gundersons' causation experts' opinions. We adjudge that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in its method of evaluating the reliability and relevancy of the testimony of the Gundersons' causation experts. The court had more than an adequate record before it to make its Daubert ruling, and it was apparent at the January 19, 2004, hearing that the trial judge was well versed on the copious record.