Expert Witness Blog
The Georgia Supreme Court decided last week in favor of tighter expert witness rules. Their 5-2 decision on the SB 3 provision (O.C.G.A. § 24-9-67.1(c)), is a rare defense victory in the state. Atlanta defense lawyer R. Page Powell Jr. says the state Supreme Court’s ruling is “a very fair, very reasonable threshold requirement for expert competency.” The ruling says that medical malpractice expert witnesses must have “actual professional knowledge and experience in the area of practice or specialty in which the opinion is to be given.” The Daily Report also writes:
The court hasn’t decided an unrelated state Supreme Court appeal, Mason v. Home Depot, S07A1486, challenging another part of the law establishing a more general rule that tightens standards for admission of expert testimony in all civil cases. That rule is sometimes known as the Daubert rule for the 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case to which federal rule makers responded in crafting a similar, but not identical, rule of evidence.