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Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.2 Assisting the Trier of Fact

Under Daubert and Kumho Tire, only relevant and reliable expert opinion testimony is admissible. The requirement that the testimony will assist the trier of fact, under Daubert, “goes primarily to relevance.”3088 “Expert opinion testimony is relevant if the knowledge underlying it has a ’valid . . . connection to the pertinent inquiry.’”3089 “Relevancy simply requires that ‘[t]he evidence ...

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.3 Reliability Principles and Methods

District courts are required to make a “preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue.”3095 The purpose of the inquiry into reliability is "to make certain that an expert, whether basing testimony upon professional studies or personal experience, employs in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an expert in the relevant field."

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.6 Expert Testimony Has to Assist the Trier of Fact

Federal Rule of Evidence 702 requires that the evidence offered by the expert must “assist the trier of fact either to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.”3158 The requirement that the opinion evidence assist the trier of fact “goes primarily to relevance.”3159 Expert testimony assists the trier of fact when it addresses issues that are typically matters that are beyond the understanding of the average lay person.3160 Exp

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.7 Expert Reports

A party must disclose “the identity of any witness it may use at trial to present evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, 703, or 705.”3162 Unless ordered by the court of otherwise stipulated between the parties, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B), this disclosure “must be accompanied by a written report – prepared and signed by the witness - if the witness is one retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or one whose duties as the party's employee regularly involve giving expert testimony.”

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.8 Protection of Communications with Experts

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4) protects drafts, regardless of the form, of any expert reports or disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(2).3181 Communications, regardless of their form, between the attorney and any expert required to provide a report, are generally protected from disclosure with limited exceptions.3182 An opposing party may only seek disclosure of communications between the attorney and the expert if it relates to the expert’s compensation; the facts and data that the

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.9 Challenging the Admissibility of Expert Testimony

As a function of the court's duty to expeditiously manage trials by eliminating inadmissible evidence, the United States Supreme Court has stated that courts have the inherent power to provide for filing of motions in limine and deciding such motions.3184 Federal Rule of Evidence 103(d) provides, in cases tried to a jury, that a court should, “to the extent practicable,” prevent inadmissible evidence from being suggested to the jury.3185 Motions in limine provide the trial

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.8.10 Expert Discovery

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure generally allow for broad discovery, authorizing parties to obtain discovery of “any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case….”3193 Relevance encompasses any matter that “bears on,” or could reasonably lead to matter that could bear on, any issue that is or may be presented in the case.3194 District courts have broad discretion to determine relevancy for discovery purposes.

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.9.2 Issues and Procedures

Concerns about whether to appeal often mirror the questions raised when litigation is first contemplated, while the process of appealing differs greatly from district court litigation. This section focuses primarily on the procedural aspects of an appeal, with some attention paid to the internal inquiry regarding the strategy of appealing. The substantive aspects of brief writing and oral argument are not discussed in this Section.3203

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.9.6 The Course of an Appeal

Most appeals are resolved after full briefing and, if granted, oral argument, with each court having different policies and procedures for those activities.3302 The content and form of the briefs and of the appendix to the briefs are set out in detail in Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 28, 30, and 32, and local rules of court.3303 Because local practice often differs on these important aspects of appellate practice, they are not discussed here.330

Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 9.2.1 Judgments

Judgments may be entered on the basis of litigated decisions,4376 by agreement, or by some combination of the two. For example, courts commonly decide whether defendants violated a legal duty to plaintiffs and urge the parties to agree on a remedial order. In the absence of agreement, both parties may submit their proposed orders. The remedial order itself may also be partially agreed upon and partially litigated, with unresolved issues submitted to the court for determination.