Bill Amendment: FL S1412 | 2013 | Regular Session

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: Expert Testimony

Status: 2013-04-25 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see HB 7015 (Ch. 2013-107) [S1412 Detail]

Download: Florida-2013-S1412-Senate_Floor_Substitute_Amendment_Delete_All_155616.html

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       Florida Senate - 2013                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1412
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 155616                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             04/25/2013 09:38 AM       .                                
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       Senators Negron, Benacquisto, and Galvano moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Substitute for Amendment (871158) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    5  and insert:
    6         Section 1. Section 90.702, Florida Statutes, is amended to
    7  read:
    8         90.702 Testimony by experts.—If scientific, technical, or
    9  other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact in
   10  understanding the evidence or in determining a fact in issue, a
   11  witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience,
   12  training, or education may testify about it in the form of an
   13  opinion or otherwise, if:
   14         (1) The testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data;
   15         (2) The testimony is the product of reliable principles and
   16  methods; and
   17         (3) The witness has applied the principles and methods
   18  reliably to the facts of the case; however, the opinion is
   19  admissible only if it can be applied to evidence at trial.
   20         Section 2. Section 90.704, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   21  read:
   22         90.704 Basis of opinion testimony by experts.—The facts or
   23  data upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be
   24  those perceived by, or made known to, the expert at or before
   25  the trial. If the facts or data are of a type reasonably relied
   26  upon by experts in the subject to support the opinion expressed,
   27  the facts or data need not be admissible in evidence. Facts or
   28  data that are otherwise inadmissible may not be disclosed to the
   29  jury by the proponent of the opinion or inference unless the
   30  court determines that their probative value in assisting the
   31  jury to evaluate the expert’s opinion substantially outweighs
   32  their prejudicial effect.
   33         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.
   34  
   35  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   36         And the title is amended as follows:
   37         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   38  and insert:
   39                        A bill to be entitled                      
   40         An act relating to expert testimony; amending s.
   41         90.702, F.S.; providing that a witness qualified as an
   42         expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or
   43         education may testify in the form of an opinion as to
   44         the facts at issue in a case under certain
   45         circumstances; requiring the courts of this state to
   46         interpret and apply the principles of expert testimony
   47         in conformity with specified United States Supreme
   48         Court decisions; subjecting pure opinion testimony to
   49         such requirements; amending s. 90.704, F.S.; providing
   50         that facts or data that are otherwise inadmissible in
   51         evidence may not be disclosed to the jury by the
   52         proponent of the opinion or inference unless the court
   53         determines that the probative value of the facts or
   54         data in assisting the jury to evaluate the expert’s
   55         opinion substantially outweighs the prejudicial effect
   56         of the facts or data; providing an effective date.
   57  
   58         WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States in Daubert
   59  v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993)
   60  replaced the standard for expert testimony in all federal courts
   61  that was first articulated in Frye v. United States, 293 F.2d
   62  1013 (D.C. Cir 1923) with a new standard that is known as the
   63  Daubert standard, and
   64         WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has subsequently
   65  reaffirmed and refined the Daubert standard in the cases of
   66  General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136 (1997) and Kumho
   67  Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), and
   68         WHEREAS, Florida’s Evidence Code is generally patterned
   69  after the Federal Rules of Evidence,
   70         WHEREAS, Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence,
   71  applicable to all federal courts, was amended in 2000 to reflect
   72  the holdings in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
   73  509 U.S. 579 (1993), General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S.
   74  136 (1997), and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137
   75  (1999), and
   76         WHEREAS, as result of the 2000 amendment, Rule 702 of the
   77  Federal Rules of Evidence provides that:
   78         A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge,
   79  skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the
   80  form of an opinion or otherwise if:
   81         (a) The expert’s scientific, technical, or other
   82  specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand
   83  the evidence or to determine a fact in issue;
   84         (b) The testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;
   85         (c) The testimony is the product of reliable principles and
   86  methods; and
   87         (d) The expert has reliably applied the principles and
   88  methods to the facts of the case, and
   89         WHEREAS, by amending s. 90.702, Florida Statutes, to
   90  pattern it after Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as
   91  amended in 2000, the Florida Legislature intends to adopt the
   92  standards for expert testimony in the courts of this state as
   93  provided in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509
   94  U.S. 579 (1993), General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136
   95  (1997), and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999),
   96  and to no longer apply the standard in Frye v. United States,
   97  293 F.2d 1013 (D.C. Cir 1923) in the courts of this state, and
   98         WHEREAS, by amending s. 90.702, Florida Statutes, the
   99  Florida Legislature intends to prohibit in the courts of this
  100  state pure opinion testimony as provided in Marsh v. Valyou, 977
  101  So.2d 543 (Fla. 2007), NOW, THEREFORE,