Book Review: Carl Cranor, Toxic Torts: Science, Law, and the Possibility of Justice
9 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2009
Date Written: October 21, 2009
Abstract
Carl F. Cranor’s Toxic Torts: Science, Law, and the Possibility of Justice is a sustained, comprehensive argument that the Daubert gatekeeping regime has tilted the playing field against injured plaintiffs in toxic tort litigation. More generally, Cranor joins those who argue that the Daubert regime has not fared well in practice. Complex scientific evidence is not handled well in trials because scientific methods, data, and inferential reasoning are not well understood by gatekeeping judges. Cranor’s goal is to help solve this problem by offering a detailed description of the patterns of reasoning, evidence collection, and inference in nonlegal scientific settings. While numerous legal scholars are engaged in the tasks of criticizing and improving the Daubert regime, Cranor offers a more pragmatic, less idealistic, view of the scientific enterprise to counter the practices of those judges who reward experts claiming certainty and discredit experts who concede the uncertainties of science.
Keywords: expert testimony, evidence, science
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