Also known as: qualify as an expert · qualifies as an expert · qualifying as an expert · expert witness qualification · Daubert qualification
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A threshold determination by the court that a witness possesses knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education sufficient to supply specialized opinion testimony.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
After a fatal truck collision, Neil's estate sued Harbor Lines. Defense counsel called Kathleen, a retired trooper with fifteen years investigating highway accidents but no engineering degree. Kathleen proposed to calculate speeds from skid marks and damage photographs. The court found her on-the-job experience supplied the specialized knowledge needed and permitted the testimony.
In a products suit over a tire failure, the plaintiff offered an engineer who had tested similar tires for years. The defendant challenged the expert's methods as untested for the precise failure mode. The court examined the engineer's practical experience and the fit of his methods to the facts before deciding whether the testimony could reach the jury.
Prosecutors charged a defendant with animal cruelty after graphic videos surfaced. They sought to introduce a veterinarian's opinion that the depicted acts caused unnecessary suffering. The court first confirmed the veterinarian's training and experience qualified her to give the specialized diagnosis before allowing the testimony.
Workers sued a manufacturer alleging PCB exposure caused their illnesses. Plaintiffs offered an epidemiologist who linked the chemicals to the diseases. The court scrutinized whether the expert's conclusions fit the specific exposure facts and data before ruling on admissibility.
In a DUI prosecution the state offered a substitute analyst to describe blood-alcohol results from a report prepared by a different technician. The defense objected that the testifying witness lacked personal knowledge of the testing process. The court evaluated whether the witness's own qualifications and review of the underlying data satisfied the expert standard.
Yes. Rule 702 expressly permits qualification by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education. A retired trooper who investigated hundreds of accidents for fifteen years may testify about speed calculations even without an engineering degree when that experience supplies the needed specialized knowledge.
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…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." This language makes no relevant distinction between "scientific"…
…other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness
…other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness
…the trial judge should give the explanatory instruction in open court to the first psychiatric witness
The court may assess qualifications at either stage. Rule 702 contains no requirement for a separate pretrial hearing. The judge may decide admissibility during trial as part of the overall gatekeeping function.
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The proponent must demonstrate by a preponderance that the witness possesses specialized knowledge that will help the trier of fact, that the testimony rests on sufficient facts or data, that it employs reliable principles and methods, and that those methods are applied reliably to the facts of the case.
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No. A receptionist who observes a patient cannot testify that the patient was obviously having a stroke because that conclusion rests on specialized medical knowledge. Lay opinion must remain within ordinary perception and may not cross into expert territory.
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Yes. When an employee will present opinion testimony based on scientific or technical knowledge, the party must disclose the employee as an expert witness under the pretrial disclosure rules.
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