In California, as in most jurisdictions, experts testify in almost every civil case that goes to trial. In fact, in many types of cases, such as medical malpractice and product liability, expert testimony is often essential to a plaintiff’s recovery. Yet, until recently, California courts have provided little guidance as to what the standards for admitting expert testimony should be.
The California Supreme Court is set to clarify the standards for admitting expert testimony later this year. In a toxic tort case involving claims brought by former workers at Lockheed’s aerospace plant in Burbank, the court will decide whether a trial court should “conduct its own review of the scientific evidence underlying an expert’s opinion to determine whether the evidence adequately supports the proffered opinion” before allowing that testimony to be presented to a jury. In the meantime, California courts of appeal have been filling in the analytical gaps.
