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Nevada Supreme Court issues opinion concerning admission of expert testimony

Hallmark v. Eldridge is a civil case involving a personal injury case, but is fully applicable to criminal cses as NRS 50.275 does not distinguish between civil and criminal cases in addressing the admissibility of expert testimony. This is reflected by the fact that much of the Court's analysis in Hallmark relies upon authority set forth in criminal cases. In Hallmark, the Court, sitting en banc, concludes that a district court abused its discretion when it allowed a physician with an engineering background to testify as a biomechanical expert against a personal injury plaintiff because, among other reasons, the testimony did not assist the jury in understanding the evidence as the testimony was not based on a reliable methodology. The Court notes that it has not adopted the US Supreme Court's interpretation of NRS 50...continue to full post

Full post as published by Harmful Error on July 24, 2008 (boomark / email).