Firm Cited in Recent Court of Appeals Decision on Admissibility of Expert Testimony

On June 22, 2022, the Court of Appeals issued its decision in State v. Matthews, its first chance since its seminal decision in Rochkind v. Stevenson, 471 Md. 1 (2020), to address issues relating to the application of Daubert in Maryland’s state courts. In Matthews, the Court re-affirmed that trial courts possess wide discretion to admit or exclude expert testimony, but if the expert applies a “reliable methodology to an adequate supply of date,” concerns about the accuracy of the expert’s conclusion is not a sufficient reason to exclude the testimony. Also, an “unknown degree of uncertainty” or error rate does not make the expert’s per se inadmissible.

Silverman Thompson had written about Rochkind in its Maryland Litigation Lawyer Blog: Weird Science: Maryland’s New Test for the Admissibility of Expert Testimony (Oct. 1, 2020), available at https:/perma.cc/49A5-N9Z4. The Court of Appeals cited to that blog in the opening page of its Matthews decision in the context of the considerable comment that Rochkind generated when it issued.

Silverman Thompson’s lawyers have considerable experience handling expert testimony at both the federal and state levels in Maryland. For more information about our Business Litigation group or the contents of this post, please contact Bill Sinclair (bsinclair@silvermanthompson.com) or Todd Hesel (thesel@silvermanthompson.com) at 410.385.2225.