Both parties in Buffalo personal injury lawsuits frequently call upon expert witnesses to provide testimony on a variety of topics. In many cases, the opinions of medical experts, engineers, or collision reconstructionists may be helpful to a jury in determining what actually led to a personal injury and the extent of the injury. Over the past several years, New York State has generally relaxed the standards for admissibility of expert testimony.
Expert testimony, however, still must be supported by the facts of the case and not speculation. Occasionally, an expert’s testimony will be based on his or her belief about what happened without any empirical evidence to back it up. This can happen, for example, where the facts support multiple theories of how an accident occurred but the expert makes an assumption that the accident occurred in a manner that supports his opinion.
If the defense is submitting such evidence in a personal injury case, the injured party may object to its admission. If the court finds that the expert’s findings are based on speculation and may unduly influence the jury, the judge may not allow the testimony to be admitted. In other cases, the court may allow the personal injury attorney to develop the lack of foundation for the expert’s opinion through cross examination of the expert.
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