Daubert Standard -

Florida

Florida follows Daubert. See Fla.Stat. §§90.702 and 90.704. However, this is a very recent development. For several years, there was confusion as to whether Florida would follow the Daubert or Frye standards, following the legislatures enactment of a Daubert standard, which was of questionable constitutional validity. However, the issue was finally resolved in 2019 when the Florida Supreme Court definitively adopted the Daubert standard. See In re Amendments to Florida Evidence Code, 278 So.3d 551 (Fla. 2019).

In December 2020, in one of the first Daubert cases, one district court announced that the Daubert factors are neither necessarily nor exclusively applicable to all experts in every case. See Walker v. State, 2020 WL 7239587 (Fla. 4th DCA Dec. 9, 2020). The court held that the Daubert test is flexible, and that the factors in Daubert are to be considered by the judge, but “do not constitute a ‘definitive checklist or test.’” Id. at *3 (quoting Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999)).