Last month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed into law legislation (H.B. 7015) concerning the qualifications of expert witnesses and replacing the the state admissibility standard under Frye to the Daubert standard. The law kicks in this month.

Currently, Florida courts employ the standard articulated in Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923) and progeny, to determine whether to admit expert testimony. Under the Frye standard, the methodology or principle on which expert opinion testimony is based must be generally accepted in the field in which it belongs.  The bill replaces the Frye standard with the Daubert standard. Under the Daubert test, when there is a proffer of expert testimony, the trial judge as a gatekeeper must make a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the underlying facts at issue. The bill adopts the Daubert standard by amending Florida law to prohibit an expert witness from testifying in the form of an opinion or otherwise, including pure opinion testimony, unless:

The testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;
The testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and
The witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.

Additionally, the preamble further states that the Legislature intended to adopt the standards provided in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136 (1997), and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999) and to prohibit pure opinion testimony as provided in Marsh v. Valyou, 997 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 2007).

The vote in the Senate was 30-9; in the state House 70-41.  Florida business groups supported the change as one making the state’s legal climate more friendly to businesses by helping to keep junk science out of the court room.