Overreaching
Definition
The error of stating a conclusion that the underlying data does not support. Overreaching is the single most common reason experts are damaged on cross-examination, because the gap between data and conclusion is exactly what opposing counsel will locate and expose.
Related terms
- Concession
- An acknowledgment by the expert witness that a particular proposition put by counsel is correct. A partial concession accepts part of a...
- Cross-examination
- Questioning of a witness by the opposing party. For an expert, cross-examination probes qualifications, methodology, the basis of opinions, limitations, inconsistencies with...
- Daubert gatekeeping
- The judicial function under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993) and Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 702, requiring the trial judge to...
- Scope creep
- The unintended expansion of a penetration test beyond the agreed boundaries, either because testers follow a vulnerability chain into an out-of-scope system...
- The report as anchor
- The principle that an expert's opinion on the stand must be consistent with, and bounded by, the expert report filed before trial....
Explained in
- Surviving Cross-ExaminationThe error of stating a conclusion that the underlying data does not support. Overreaching is the single most common reason experts are damaged on cross-examina...