Opinion ID: 2038747
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Schafersman I/Daubert Framework

Text: [4] Neb. Evid. R. 702, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-702 (Reissue 1995), governs the admissibility of expert opinion testimony. It provides: 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. Section 702 requires that trial courts act as gatekeepers to ensure the evidentiary relevance and reliability of an expert's opinion. Carlson v. Okerstrom, supra . This entails a preliminary assessment whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is valid and whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue. Carlson v. Okerstrom, supra ; Schafersman I. In Schafersman I, we noted several factors that might bear on a judge's gatekeeping determination: whether a theory or technique can be (and has been) tested; whether, regarding a particular technique, there is a high known or potential rate of error; whether there are standards controlling the technique's operation; and whether the theory or technique enjoys general acceptance within a relevant scientific community. These factors are, however, neither exclusive nor binding; different factors may prove more significant in different cases, and additional factors may prove relevant under particular circumstances. Id. at 233, 631 N.W.2d at 877. [5] Since Schafersman I, we have ruled that in performing its gatekeeping duty, it is not enough for the trial court to determine that an expert's methodology is valid in the abstract. The trial court must also determine if the witness applied the methodology in a reliable manner. Carlson v. Okerstrom, supra . [6] However, `the trial court's role as gatekeeper . . . is not intended to serve as a replacement for the adversary system.' Pipitone v. Biomatrix, Inc., 288 F.3d 239, 250 (5th Cir. 2002) (quoting Fed. R. Evid. 702, advisory committee's note). Rather, the objective of the trial court's gatekeeping responsibility is to make certain that an expert, whether basing testimony upon professional studies or personal experience, employs in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an expert in the relevant field. Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152, 119 S. Ct. 1167, 143 L. Ed. 2d 238 (1999). See, also, Rosen v. Ciby-Geigy Corp., 78 F.3d 316, 318-19 (7th Cir. 1996) (noting that object of Daubert standard was to make sure that when scientists testify in court they adhere to the same standards of intellectual rigor that are demanded in their professional work. . . . If they do, their evidence (provided of course that it is relevant to some issue in the case) is admissible even if the particular methods they have used in arriving at their opinion are not yet accepted as canonical in their branch of the scientific community. If they do not, their evidence is inadmissible no matter how imposing their credentials).