On February 21, 2023, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin declined to clarify the standard for admission of expert evidence. This was a disappointment for WLF, which filed an amicus brief supporting review. In 2011, Wisconsin legislators adopted the federal Daubert standard for the admission of expert evidence. But as WLF’s brief explained, lower courts have continued to apply pre-2011 Wisconsin law when deciding whether to admit expert evidence. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s intervention was necessary to instruct lower courts that (1) flawed methodology goes to the admissibility of proposed expert testimony, not its weight; (2) experts must be qualified in a field to testify about that field; and (3) Daubert requires applying reliable methods to the facts of a case. The brief was filed with the generous pro bono assistance of Matthew M. Fernholz of Cramer, Multahauf & Hammes LLP.
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