News & Publications

Gary Wax’s article published in the Summer/Fall 2018 ABTL Report explores how courts have been applying the California Supreme Court’s limitation on expert testimony announced in People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665.

Before Sanchez, litigants used expert testimony to present otherwise inadmissible hearsay evidence under the theory that the evidence was being offered only as the basis for the expert’s opinion.  Sanchez held that expert witnesses cannot repeat out-of-court hearsay statements that they relied on in forming their expert opinion if they are “case-specific facts,” unless they are independently proven by competent evidence or are covered by a hearsay exception.  Since Sanchez, courts have consistently limited the admissibility of expert testimony if the party invoking the rule objected contemporaneously and the trial court’s admission of the evidence caused prejudice.

To read the full article, click here.