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Flipping Daubert: Putting Climate Change Defendants In The Hot Seat, Ryan A. Hackney

Ryan A Hackney

Can climate change plaintiffs use Daubert challenges to exclude defense expert testimony? Although Daubert challenges have traditionally favored defendants, the strong evidence for climate change may allow plaintiffs to exclude or restrict defense testimony. My paper considers actual claims put forth by climate change skeptics to see how climate change plaintiffs can use Daubert challenges in four ways: challenge the witness, challenge reliability, challenge relevance, and challenge conclusions. The paper suggests that Daubert challenges can be an effective tool for plaintiffs in climate change litigation, and that challenges in this context may provide a blueprint for plaintiffs to follow in …