Admissibility of Expert Witness in Federal Courts - Daubert Standard

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminal Justice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Table of Contents
ISSUE.............................................................................................................................2
FACTS...........................................................................................................................2
RULE OF LAW.............................................................................................................2
ANALYSIS....................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................4
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................5

2CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ISSUE
The issue of this case is to determine the standards of admissibility of expert witness
in federal courts.
FACTS
In the case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993),
Daubert and Schuller were born with certain defects which made their parents file a suit
against Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. which was a subsidiary of Dow Chemical
Company. The plaintiffs argued with a supportive expert witness of their own that the
administration of Bendectin when the mothers were pregnant had caused harm to the foetus.
It was counter argued by the defendant along with an expert witness of their own that stated
that there was no published and accepted scientific study that supported the view that
Bendectin had any possibility of harming a foetus.
The Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Fyre Standards and held that
the admission of expert witness in federal courts would depend upon the Federal Rules of
Evidence.
RULE OF LAW
The usual standard for determining the admissibility of scientific evidence provided
by an expert based on scientific techniques was done by the Fyre Standards. However, in
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the Supreme Court
intervene and changed the standard for determination of admitting expert evidence. With the
enactment of the Federal Rules of Evidence, it overturned the Fyre Standard and a new
standard was articulated by the court called as the Daubert Standard which was referred to
for determining whether to admit the witness evidence in the federal proceeding.