Friday, January 16, 2004

9th Circuit Upholds Opinion from Insurance Industry Expert

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit has upheld testimony from the plaintiff's expert on insurance industry standards, in a claim for bad faith termination of disability benefits. The panel rejected the contention that the admissibility of such testimony must be gauged by reference to peer review, publication, or error rates. In any event, the defendants waived their reliability objections at trial. See Greenberg v. Paul Revere Life. Ins. Co., No. 02-16501 (9th Cir. Jan. 12, 2004) (Pregerson, Beam, & Paez, JJ.) (unpublished).

posted by pn at 12:11 AM  

Fed. R. Evid. 702: 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, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.