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Practice Tip: Daubert's 'Fit' Requirement

BY James H. Rotondo
July 29, 2012

Daubert requires that federal district court judges engage in a two-prong inquiry when addressing the admissibility of expert testimony. The district court must determine that an expert's proffered testimony has both a reliable foundation and an adequate fit. While many courts have addressed in-depth the first prong of this Daubert test, less attention has been paid to the second prong, the “fit” requirement. Among the courts that have engaged in a substantive “fit” analysis, the majority have focused on whether the expert's proffered testimony is sufficiently tied to the facts of the case or the issues presented to the trier of fact. Under this type of analysis, the courts essentially ask the question “is this testimony relevant?”

Three federal circuits discuss an alternative approach to the “fit” analysis and hold that there is an independent significance to the “fit” requirement. Specifically, these circuits hold that the “fit” requirement is satisfied when an expert's opinion is supported by the underlying data and have precluded expert opinions where there was too great an analytical gap between the data and the opinion proffered.

Although other federal courts have previously determined that an analysis of the connection between an expert's data and opinion is proper during a Daubert hearing, few courts have specifically examined this connection in the context of the “fit” requirement. This alternative approach, therefore, provides attorneys with a stronger foundation when seeking to exclude expert testimony by allowing them to challenge the disconnect between an expert's opinion and data in the context of Daubert's “fit” requirement specifically and seek preclusion on this basis alone.

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