Opinion ID: 200085
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gatekeeping Under Daubert

Text: 30 Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence governs the admissibility of expert testimony. As recently amended, it provides that a proposed expert witness must be sufficiently qualified to assist the trier of fact, and that his or her expert testimony must be relevant to the task at hand and rest on a reliable basis: 31 If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case. 32 Fed.R.Evid. 702. See 4 Jack B. Weinstein & Margaret A. Berger, Weinstein's Federal Evidence § 702.02[3] (2002). The three numbered criteria were added to Rule 702 in a recent amendment codifying the Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993) and its progeny, including Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999). See Fed.R.Evid. 702 Advisory Committee Note to 2000 Amendments. 33 The Supreme Court asserted in Daubert that trial courts perform a gatekeeping role in regulating the admission of expert testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 702. 509 U.S. at 589-95. 4 That screening function entails a preliminary evaluation of the proffered expert testimony for both reliability and relevance. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591-595; Ruiz-Troche v. Pepsi Cola of Puerto Rico Bottling Co., 161 F.3d 77, 80 (1st Cir.1998) (citing Daubert ). The review for reliability encompasses an assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93. As to the relevancy criterion, expert testimony must be relevant not only in the sense that all evidence must be relevant, but also in the incremental sense that the expert's proposed opinion, if admitted, likely would assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue. Ruiz-Troche, 161 F.3d at 81 (citation omitted) (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591-92). 34 The Rule 702 inquiry is a flexible one, Daubert, 509 U.S. at 594, and there is no particular procedure that the trial court is required to follow in executing its gatekeeping function under Daubert. In Kumho Tire, the Supreme Court stated: 35 The trial court must have the same kind of latitude in deciding how to test an expert's reliability, and to decide whether or when special briefing or other proceedings are needed to investigate reliability, as it enjoys when it decides whether that expert's relevant testimony is reliable.... Otherwise, the trial judge would lack the discretionary authority needed both to avoid unnecessary reliability proceedings in ordinary cases where the reliability of an expert's methods is properly taken for granted, and to require appropriate proceedings in the less usual or more complex cases where cause for questioning the expert's reliability arises. 36 526 U.S. at 152. As the Ninth Circuit has determined, [a]lthough the [ Daubert ] Court stated that the inquiry is a `preliminary' one, to be made `at the outset,' this does not mean that it must be made in a separate, pretrial hearing, outside the presence of the jury. United States v. Alatorre, 222 F.3d 1098, 1102 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592) (finding voir dire of expert in presence of jury to be permissible under Daubert ); see also United States v. Nichols, 169 F.3d 1255, 1262-1264 (10th Cir.1999) (trial court has discretion not to hold pretrial evidentiary reliability hearing in carrying out its gatekeeping function). 37