Rule 702. Testimony by Experts

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.

Committee Notes

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.”