Case Law Bonus Post: Richards v Mississippi BBQ

Notes: Much like Coburn Camera Crew v. Ellicott City, this case ends a skirting-the-rules trick that used to be deployed in college Mock Trial. Rule 703 essentially tells us that an expert’s conclusions can be admissible even if the data underlying them is not. Quite often in college Mock Trial, the data underlying an expert’s conclusion is hearsay. You used to be able to put that hearsay in via Rule 703, simply by having the expert say “I concluded [hearsay content]” instead of “I was told [hearsay content].” This case ends that option, explicitly forbidding experts from being “conduits who merely repeat what they are told.” In using this case law to prevent someone from using an expert to bring in hearsay through the “I concluded [hearsay content]” trick, it is probably best to still begin with a hearsay objection. If they then use Rule 703 to excuse the hearsay, counter with an argument from this case law. If you’re on the other side of that argument, being illegitimately accused of bringing in hearsay when you’re bringing in an expert conclusion, your strongest argumentative strategy will be to point out the ways in which your expert is processing his data- how he isn’t just reciting hearsay but adding something to the hearsay which may in fact underlie his conclusions.