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North Carolina is not Daubert territory, state high court holds.

Article Excerpt
The North Carolina Supreme Court has expressly rejected the federal standard for admissibility of scientific evidence established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Howerton v. Arai Helmet, 597 S.E.2d 674 (N.C. 2004).) The ruling directly contradicts the appellate court's assertion that the state high court had adopted the federal standard in an earlier opinion.

The trial court in the case cited Daubert (509 U.S. 579 (1993)) as the reason for excluding all of the plaintiff's expert witnesses in his lawsuit against a motorcycle-helmet manufacturer, ruling that under the federal standard their testimony was unreliable and inadmissible. The exclusion left the plaintiff with no admissible evidence, and the court granted the defendant summary judgment.

The appellate, court affirmed the decision, stating that it was "eminently clear" that...

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