In a products liability case, a Missouri state trial court excluded the plaintiff’s expert witness, finding his testimony to not be reliable. An intermediate appeals court reversed the decision despite the plaintiff not having briefed and argued the expert was qualified under the state’s expert witness statute that mirrors Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
Our brief makes three main arguments: (1) that the Missouri Rules of Evidence require judges to be gatekeepers that assess the reliability of the scientific evidence and only admit testimony that meets the preponderance of the evidence standard; (2) that trail courts are required to make findings that the party offering the testimony has met each of the four standards for admissibility in the Rule, including reliability of the proffered testimony; and (3) the importance of scientific integrity when asserting a design defect against products where standard setting organizations and government regulators have studied this specific issue and have reached the opposite conclusion as the expert.