January 07, 2008

In my talk on the panel today, I mistakenly said that Judge Fallon of the MDL ruled that Dr. Thomas Baldwin could testify as to specific causation. Though Judge Fallon made the initial ruling permitting Baldwin to testify in contravention of Daubert, two weeks later, he later agreed with Merck that Baldwin's testimony as to specific causation violated Daubert and should be excluded.

I regret the error about the specific ruling on the specific expert. I stand by the larger point that Judge Fallon and the trial judges in the two Texas trials committed reversible error in permitting expert testimony in violation of Daubert and the Texas analogue to Daubert.