Md. High Court Orders Frye Hearing on Shoemaker Testimony

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland's Court of Appeals on May 23 ruled that a trial court abused its discretion in declining to hold an admissibility hearing before allowing testimony by mold expert Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. Montgomery Mutual Insurance Co. v. Chesson, No. 110, September Term 2006 (Md. Ct. App.).

The state's high court remanded the workers compensation case to Howard County Circuit Court for the sole purpose of holding a Frye-Reed hearing on Montgomery Mutual Insurance Co.'s challenge to testimony by Ritchie Shoemaker, M.D., of Pokomoke, Md., that Josephine Chesson and other claimants suffer from mold-related illnesses (Frye v. United States, …