Financial expert witness Daubert challenge study

Daubert criteria are applicable to all types of expert testimony in federal cases, including financial expert witness testimony.

In 1993, the US Supreme Court’s opinion in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. addressed the admissibility of expert scientific testimony in federal trials, affirming a gate-keeping role for judges in determining the reliability and relevance of the testimony. In 1999, the Supreme Court’s decision in Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael clarified that the Daubert criteria were applicable to all types of expert testimony, not merely testimony relating to science.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ research continues to show that Kumho’s broadening of Daubert’s application has led to a steady increase in the number of challenges to all expert witnesses.

2008 Daubert study: Coming Fall 2009

2007 Daubert study
The 2007 Daubert study identifies characteristics of some of the most typical targets of challenges, factors influencing challenge success rates, and unusual/untested analytical methods that courts have found inadmissible.

2006 Daubert study
2006 marked the seventh anniversary of the Kumho Tire decision. This study analyzes post–Kumho Tire (2000–2006) challenges to financial expert witnesses under the Daubert standards, based on observable trends in the frequency and outcome of those challenges in federal and state courts.

2005 Daubert study  
Expert witnesses are being challenged more and these challenges are often successful. The impact on a case of having an expert excluded can be serious. Once challenged, experts are wholly or partially excluded nearly 50% of the time, according to the 2005 study.