WLF's analysis shows some judges carefully weighing expert testimony.(LITIGATION)(Washington Legal Foundation)

The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF; Washington), an advocacy group that receives some funding from industry, has released an analysis of a recent court decision in a polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) cleanup lawsuit, which says that the Indiana court judge's rejection of the plaintiffs' expert witnesses is helpful for companies that are defendants in environmental cleanup cases.

At issue are the legal requirements for admissible expert testimony, which was defined in a 1995 ruling in the Supreme Court case Daubert v. Merrell Dow. The Supreme Court gave trial judges the responsibility for such decisions. The Supreme Court decision also outlined the criteria judges …