More than $5 million is riding on whether the Georgia Supreme Court holds that the plaintiffs' expert witness in an asbestos trial met the scientific standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993.

Attorneys for Scapa Dryer Fabrics Inc. last week urged the justices to reject that plaintiffs' theory, asking them to overturn a 2010 verdict against the textile company, which made fabric containing asbestos. The science behind the testimony in question “simply does not satisfy Daubert scrutiny,” said Scapa attorney Robert Gilbreath, a partner with Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young.

Gilbreath was referring to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1993 ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, which held that trial experts' testimony must be based on generally accepted science.