Marsh v. Valyou
Florida Supreme Court
977 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 2007)
Jill Marsh (plaintiff) sued Robert Valyou, Avis Rent-A-Car, and others (defendants) for negligence after a series of car accidents, alleging the accidents caused her fibromyalgia, and offered expert testimony based on traditional scientific methods linking trauma to the condition. The trial court excluded that testimony under Frye v. United States, finding the opinion that trauma causes fibromyalgia was not generally accepted in the scientific community, and granted summary judgment for the defendants. Marsh appealed.
Whether the admissibility of an expert's opinion under the Frye test turns on the scientific community's general acceptance of the expert's underlying scientific principles and methodologies, rather than of the opinion itself.