Opinion ID: 781962
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cotter's Daubert Motions

Text: 29 Before trial, Cotter moved to exclude the testimony of certain plaintiffs' experts on the grounds that the opinions were not reliable under Daubert. Aplt.App. at 002034-101. The 47-page motion included an appendix of several thousand pages containing Fed.R.Civ.P. 26 reports from both parties' experts, deposition testimony, and over 200 articles and studies relied upon by the experts. Id. at 002103-009852. Concluding that the motion violated local court rules regarding length, the district court returned the motion and accompanying appendix and allowed Cotter to file a revised motion and appendix, neither of which could exceed 20 pages in length. Id. at 009857-858. Cotter moved for leave to submit a lengthier appendix to provide the court with sufficient information to make its ultimate determination, id. at 009860-862, but the district court denied the motion, finding that such material is prolix because the 20-page limit is sufficient to allow [Cotter] to allege that plaintiffs' experts are not, in fact, experts, or that they base their opinions on unreliable studies or methodologies. Id. at 009865. Cotter then submitted a revised motion and appendix complying with the limits in which Cotter objected to the reliability of six of the plaintiffs' proposed expert witnesses. Id. at 009868-908. 30 The district court recognized the necessity of conducting a Daubert hearing to address several important issues raised in the motions. Id. at 010114. At a trial preparation conference, the court informed the parties that its Daubert rulings are going to be very similar, if not the same, as [its] rulings were [in Dodge I ] ... except in the areas where the Court of Appeals [found] error. Id. The district court also informed the parties that while it wished to conduct the Daubert hearing without live witness testimony by relying on argument and proffers, it would consider allowing live witnesses if absolutely necessary. Id. at 010166. Plaintiffs submitted several proffers in opposition to Cotter's Daubert motion including summaries of their challenged experts' opinions, bases, methods and conclusions. Id. at 010191-271, 299-307. Cotter also submitted exhibits including expert affidavits, deposition testimony, articles, studies and proffers related to the contested experts. Id. at 010330-696. 31