Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993)

Definition

This case involved two persons, Jason Daubert and Eric Schuller, who had been born with severe birth defects. Along with their parents, they sued Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical Inc. based on the claim that the drug Bendectin had caused their birth defects. Merrell Dow had the case placed in federal court and moved for summary judgment due to the fact that their expert witness provided documents indicating that no published scientific study existed to provide support for a causal relationship between Bendectin and birth defects. By contrast, Daubert and Schuller provided their own expert evidence which indicated that Bendectin could indeed lead to birth defects. This expert testimony was based primarily on in vitro and in vivo animal studies, pharmaceutical studies, and a reanalysis of already published studies. However, because such methodologies had not garnered acceptance within the scientific community, the court awarded summary judgment to Merrell Dow. Daubert and Schuller...