Expert testimony plays a critical role in nearly all putative class actions, including at the class certification stage where parties rely on expert evidence to address the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.
CEG regularly serves as an expert witness, providing opinions and testimony concerning numerosity, ascertainability, class certification, notice adequacy, settlement issues and more.
CEG’s team of experts has provided opinions and testimony in hundreds of cases over the years, largely in litigation concerning Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and TCPA-related state statutes, current and/or historical:
Class Member Location and Identification
Numerosity
Ascertainability
Wireless Status Identification
National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR)
Internal Do Not Call Registry (IDNCR)
"Wrong Number" Identification
Appending of Names, Addresses and Emails to Telephone Numbers
Plan of Allocation Application
Business v Residential Telephone Status Identification
Telephone Reassignment
Voice Mail Delivery
Consent Issues
Class Action Notice Adequacy
Claims Audit
Claims Adjudication
Settlement Fund Distribution
Discovery Requirements
Class Member List Creation
Class certification has long been a battle of the experts, and decisions to allow a class to proceed or deny such requests have often hinged on expert testimony.
CEG’s expert witnesses are neutral, forming independent opinions based on facts and evidence. CEG’s Expert Reports meet Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requirements and contain: (i) a complete statement of all opinions CEG’s expert witnesses express and the basis and reasons for them; (ii) the facts or data considered by CEG’s expert witnesses in forming the opinions; (iii) any exhibits that were used by CEG’s expert witnesses to summarize or support the opinions; (iv) the expert witness' qualifications, including a list of all publications authored in the previous 10 years; (v) a list of all other cases in which, during the previous 4 years, CEG’s expert witnesses testified as an expert at trial or by deposition; and (vi) a statement of the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony in the case.
CEG’s expert witnesses have experience in handling opposition reports, providing rebuttal opinions and overcoming Daubert challenges.
Depositions
CEG’s expert witnesses have testified in dozens of depositions. From document production to deposition preparation and errata sheet completion, CEG’s expert witnesses are diligent, timely, and thorough. During depositions, CEG’s expert witnesses provide direct, succinct, short, and to-the-point answers without divulging unnecessary information.
Trials, Evidential and Other Hearings
CEG’s senior expert witness has testified at two trials and numerous class certification and other court hearings to bring a wealth of cross-examination experience and expertise to the table.
Krakauer v. Dish Network, LLC, No. 1:14–CV–333 (M.D.N.C.) Submitted an expert report and rebuttal and provided live testimony at deposition and before a jury regarding analysis of more than 1.6 million telephone call records. The court admitted Ms. Verkhovskaya’s expert opinion over a Daubert challenge in a case where exclusion of the report would have meant failure of the class. Later, in denying a motion to overturn the jury verdict awarding the class more than $20 million in relief, the court found that “Ms. Verkhovskaya provided clear, cogent testimony explaining her methodology and the bases for her opinions.” Damages in the case were trebled to more than $61.5 million, and the award was upheld on appeal. McMillion v. Rash Curtis & Associates, 4:16-cv-03396 (N.D. Cal.) In a class action brought against a debt collector who used skip tracing to make more than half a million calls in violation of the TCPA, Ms. Verkhovskaya used reverse append and other industryleading techniques to separate debtors from non-debtors in the defendant’s telephone call data, and to identify telephone calls made to wireless telephone numbers. Verkhovskaya testified both at deposition and at a jury trial explaining her method. The class was awarded more than $267 million in damages, one of the largest TCPA damages awards ever.
