Is expert testimony required whenever an employee is trying to prove a disability?

Maybe. Maybe not.

The 10th Circuit had a case in which the trial court held that expert testimony is required in every single case. And the 10th Circuit reversed. Tesone v. Empire Marketing Strategies (10th Cir 11/08/2019) [PDF].

The court says you have to take a case-by-case look – and it depends upon the type of disability – in order to decide whether or not expert testimony is required.

This was an employee that had a chronic lower back pain.

The court said you will need to have expert testimony when “a condition would be unfamiliar to a lay jury and only an expert could diagnose that condition.”

In this case: maybe not.