Bradenton Court Denies Daubert Motion in Rear-End Collision

On February 8, 2009, a plaintiff was operating a motor vehicle at the intersection of 75th Street West and Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton, Florida, when a defendant driver rear-ended the plaintiff's vehicle. The defendant driver was operating a vehicle owned by another defendant. The plaintiff subsequently filed a negligence action, claiming the collision caused a cervical strain and a knee injury, specifically a torn meniscus.

The defendants argued that the plaintiff's alleged knee injury was a pre-existing condition unrelated to the motor vehicle accident. They asserted that the collision was a low-speed rear-end impact with no mechanism to cause such a knee injury, intending to present testimony from a biomechanics expert.

In January 2015, the plaintiff filed a Daubert motion seeking to exclude the defendants' biomechanics expert. The court denied this motion in February 2015, allowing the expert's testimony regarding the low-speed impact and lack of injury mechanism to proceed. The final resolution of the negligence claim was not available in the record.