What Qualifies Someone to be an Expert in Courts in Las Vegas Nevada?

Whether someone is deemed an expert in court in Las Vegas, Nevada, is based upon a variety of factors. These factors are laid out in Nevada’s statutes, which are created by the state legislature and case law, which is written by our Nevada Supreme Court. There are three main Nevada statutes which govern experts. We will take a look at each one, including their case law counterparts.

The first we will take a look at is NRS 50.275 entitled “Testimony by experts”. It provides in full:
     If scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of the fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by special knowledge, skill, experience, training or education may testify to matters within the scope of such knowledge.

The Nevada Supreme Court has held that an expert witness need not be licensed to testify as a expert. Freeman v. Davidson, 105 Nev. 13, 768 P.2d 885 (1989). The witness must simply possess “special knowledge, skill, experience, training or education” relating to the subject matter. Hanneman v. Downer, 110 Nev. 167, 871 P2d 279 (1994). Importantly, as it relates to the qualifications of this expert, an expert witness may be qualified by on-the-job-training and experience. Emmons v. State, 107 Nev. 58, 807 P2d 718 (1991). Once an expert is qualified, she may testify as to all matters within her experience or training, and the expert is generally given reasonably wide latitude in the opinions and conclusions she can state. Fernandez v. Admirand, 108 Nev. 963, 843 P.2d 354 (1992).

As explained in several Nevada cases, the threshold test for admissibility of expert testimony by a qualified expert is whether the expert’s specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine a fact in issue. Yamaha Motor Co. v. Arnoult, 114 Nev. 233, at 243 (1998) and the cases cited therein.

In Yamaha Motor Co., the Nevada Supreme Court adopted the more reasoned approach in allowing the use of experts by rejecting the doctrine of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) that required a trial court to engage in “gatekeeping” to ensure that all of the proposed expert witness testimony was based entirely upon accepted “scientific knowledge.” Rather in Yamaha, supra, the Nevada Supreme Court found that admissible expert testimony may also be derived from “specialized knowledge” that may not entirely be governed by scientific method. 

The second statute pertaining to experts, is NRS 50.285. Once the court determines the expert is qualified to testify, this statute discusses what types of materials the expert can rely on. NRS 50.285 entitled  “Opinions: Experts” provides:
   
   1. The facts or data in the particular cases upon which an expert bases his
opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to him at or
before the hearing.

   2. If of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in forming opinions or inferences upon the subject, the facts or data need not be admissible in evidence.
Based upon NRS 50.285, an expert can rely on most anything, even if it is not admissible in court or if it new information that the expert just found out about. 

The third and final statute on expert opinions, is NRS 50.295 entitled “Opinions; Ultimate Issues” and provides:

Testimony in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not
objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier
of fact.

A “finder of fact” is the jury if it is a jury trial, and a judge if no jury is involved. In this statute, the Nevada state legislature determined that an expert is allowed to testify concerning topics that the jury (or judge, if no jury is present) will ultimately decide. Hopefully, today’s discussion will give you a better understanding of how an expert is qualified to testify in Las Vegas, Nevada courts.

Next time we will discuss differences between mediation and arbitration in Las Vegas, Nevada.