Product Liability & Mass Torts Digest

The recent decision in Mendoza v. SharkNinja Operating, LLC by the District of Colorado offers a practical illustration of how federal courts are applying the heightened reliability standard under the 2023 amendments to Rule 702.

For years, federal practitioners have referred to that standard as the “Daubert” standard, for the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993). Daubert made clear that judges must act as gatekeepers when it comes to expert testimony and articulated various factors that they are to consider when deciding whether particular expert testimony is admissible. Defendants generally like Daubert because it effectively raised the bar for expert testimony, making it harder for plaintiffs to rely on junk science to make their case.