After Mrs. Daubert had taken Bendectin for morning-sickness in pregnancy, her son Jason was born with severe birth defects. Believing that Bendectin was the cause, in 1989 the Dauberts brought suit against the manufacturers of the drug, Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. At trial, however, the court excluded the expert witnesses the Dauberts had proffered to testify on the question of causation, on the grounds that the consensus in the relevant scientific community was that Bendectin does not cause birth defects. With the plaintiffs’ causation experts excluded, there was no case to answer, and the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Merrell Dow; the appeals court affirmed.