A federal appeals court has rejected a New Jersey woman’s attempts to reverse a defense verdict PetSmart won last year, finding that the woman’s proposed retail expert had been correctly disqualified from testifying in the case.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday in Yazujian v. PetSmart that the district court judge handling the case at the trial level properly barred plaintiff Kim Yazujian’s proposed expert under the standards outlined in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Yazujian had raised the issue on appeal after a U.S. District Court of New Jersey jury rendered a defense verdict in the slip-and-fall case she brought against the retail giant.