Scottoline v. Women First, LLC

Summary

The Delaware Superior Court granted Defendants’ motion to exclude the plaintiffs’ expert causation opinion in a medical negligence action. The court held that the expert’s opinion linking hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy to the child’s autism-spectrum behavioral syndrome lacked a reliable scientific basis and was not the product of a reliable methodology ruling out alternative causes.

Holdings

1. The opinion was inadmissible because it lacked a reliable scientific basis. The cited articles identified, at most, an association between HIE or related perinatal conditions and ASD, and none established that HIE causes ASD.
2. The opinion was inadmissible because Dr. Adler did not use a reliable methodology to distinguish HIE as the cause of J.S.S.’s ASD from other potential causes.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Dr. Adler’s opinion that J.S.S.’s HIE caused his autism spectrum disorder or ASD-related behavioral syndrome had a reliable scientific basis under Delaware Rule of Evidence 702.
2. Whether Dr. Adler employed a reliable methodology to rule in and rule out alternative causes of J.S.S.’s ASD before offering a specific-causation opinion.

Disposition

other