Court: United States District Court for the District of KansasJurisdiction: FederalCase Name: Fish v. KobachCitation: 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41755
Facts
The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Dechert LLP, on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Kansas and individual residents of the state. The lawsuit requested a court order forcing the state to automatically enroll thousands of Kansans who had tried to register to vote in a DMV office, but who had been denied due to their supposed failure to comply with the standards of state citizenship records. The plaintiffs retained a fraud expert witness to testify that voter fraud by non-citizens was extremely uncommon in Kansas. The fraud expert’s testimony was challenged by the defendant.
The Fraud Expert Witness
The fraud expert witness was a professor of political science and associate professor of public policy at Rutgers University-Camden. She received her bachelor of history degree from Boston University and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the City University of New York. Prior to joining the staff of Rutgers, the expert taught at New York University and Barnard College, worked as associate director of the Center for Urban Research and Policy at Columbia University, and served as research director of the non-profit voting rights group, Project Vote.
The fraud expert’s research focused on issues related to American politics, including social justice, political conflict, and institutional change. She had also written two books on electoral law and racial and class politics in the United States. In a 2009 report she co-authored, she found contradictory and insufficient evidence that voter ID laws had decreased turnout. She offered the testimony that non-citizen registration and voting were not significant problems for the state of Kansas. She further testified that the defendant had indicted six people for voter fraud since assuming office, none of whom were non-citizens.
Discussion
The court rejected the defendant’s challenge to the qualifications of the fraud expert witness, finding that she was qualified to testify as an expert witness on the occurrence and impact of electoral fraud in contemporary American elections. The court found the defendant’s challenge to the reliability of the fraud expert witness’ methodology in arriving at her opinion should affect only the weight of her testimony and not its admissibility.
In response to the defendant’s claims that the expert’s opinion had dealt with final legal issues in the case, the court cautioned the plaintiffs to not include such testimony.
Held
The defendant’s Daubert motion to exclude the testimony offered by the plaintiffs’ fraud expert witness was denied.
About the author
Zach Barreto
Zach Barreto is a distinguished professional in the legal industry, currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Research at the Expert Institute. With a deep understanding of a broad range of legal practice areas, Zach's expertise encompasses personal injury, medical malpractice, mass torts, defective products, and many other sectors. His skills are particularly evident in handling complex litigation matters, including high-profile cases like the Opioids litigation, NFL Concussion Litigation, California Wildfires, 3M earplugs, Elmiron, Transvaginal Mesh, NFL Concussion Litigation, Roundup, Camp Lejeune, Hernia Mesh, IVC filters, Paraquat, Paragard, Talcum Powder, Zantac, and many others.
Under his leadership, the Expert Institute’s research team has expanded impressively from a single member to a robust team of 100 professionals over the last decade. This growth reflects his ability to navigate the intricate and demanding landscape of legal research and expert recruitment effectively. Zach has been instrumental in working on nationally significant litigation matters, including cases involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, toxic chemical exposure, and wrongful death, among others.
At the Expert Institute, Zach is responsible for managing all aspects of the research department and developing strategic institutional relationships. He plays a key role in equipping attorneys for success through expert consulting, case management, strategic research, and expert due diligence provided by the Institute’s cloud-based legal services platform, Expert iQ.
Educationally, Zach holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and European History from Vanderbilt University.
