Opinion ID: 788983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dr. Lustgarten's Expert Testimony

Text: 20 The defendants also challenge the district court's admission of a portion of the testimony of Dr. Gary Lustgarten, a board-certified neurologist and neurosurgeon who testified concerning the cause of Moreland's death. They argue that Lustgarten's opinion as to where Moreland received his fatal injury was not scientific in the sense required by Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). 21 The parties dispute whether the defendants preserved this issue for appeal. The record reflects that the defendants challenged another expert's testimony on Daubert grounds before trial, and the district court expressed some dissatisfaction with the requirements of Daubert as a general matter. Then, during Lustgarten's testimony, when the plaintiffs' attorney asked whether the expert had an opinion as to where the injury that caused Moreland's death occurred, the defendants' lawyer objected in the following terms: 22 MR. KUS: Objection; based on hearsay, Your Honor. He has to believe a certain set of witnesses and testimony — unless you're talking about where in the body, but I think he's talking about where it occurred in the location, so I'll make that objection. 23 THE COURT: The objection is overruled. 24 It is hard to discern even the germ of a Daubert challenge in this objection. The defendants' Daubert challenge to the testimony of a different expert hardly suffices to preserve the argument against Lustgarten. Their failure to address a Daubert challenge to Lustgarten's testimony is not excused by the district court's expression of dissatisfaction with the requirements of Daubert . The issue was forfeited. 25 Plain error review of a forfeited evidentiary issue in a civil case is available only under extraordinary circumstances when the party seeking review can demonstrate that: (1) exceptional circumstances exist; (2) substantial rights are affected; and (3) a miscarriage of justice will occur if plain error review is not applied. Stringel v. Methodist Hosp. of Ind., Inc., 89 F.3d 415, 421 (7th Cir.1996); Prymer v. Ogden, 29 F.3d 1208, 1214 (7th Cir.1994). The defendants have not even attempted to meet this standard.