Rule 702: Testimony by Experts.

Article VII. Opinions and Expert Testimony

219

If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will substantially assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise.

Advisory Commission Comments [2001].

The Frye test no longer exists in Tennessee. In McDaniel v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 955 S.W.2d 257 (1997), the Tennessee Supreme Court listed five nonexclusive factors taken from the federal case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993): 

“(1) whether scientific evidence has been tested and the methodology with which it has been tested; 

“(2) whether the evidence has been subjected to peer review or publication; 

“(3) whether a potential rate of error is known; 

“(4) whether, as formerly required by Frye, the evidence is generally accepted in the scientific community; and 

“(5) whether the expert’s research in the field has been conducted independent of litigation.”

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