DC High Court Adopts Daubert Approach to Expert Testimony -

In a direct victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia’s highest court abandoned the nearly century-old Frye test for admitting expert testimony in favor of the Daubert approach as embodied in Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. See Motorola, Inc. v. Murray, No. 14-CV-1350 (D.C. Oct. 20, 2016). The decision to adopt the federal standar —following 39 states that have done so—came in an interlocutory appeal in litigation in which Plaintiffs allege long-term exposure to mobile phone radiation causes brain tumors. The newly adopted standard likely means an uphill battle for Plaintiffs and their causation experts in this litigation.