Bouygues Telecom, S.A. v. Tekelec

472 F. Supp. 2d 722, 2007 WL 4699239, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10786
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedJanuary 31, 2007
Docket4:05-cv-00078
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 472 F. Supp. 2d 722 (Bouygues Telecom, S.A. v. Tekelec) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bouygues Telecom, S.A. v. Tekelec, 472 F. Supp. 2d 722, 2007 WL 4699239, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10786 (E.D.N.C. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

FLANAGAN, Chief Judge.

This case comes now before the court on defendant’s motions to exclude expert reports of Barbara Lancaster (“Lancaster”), and all testimony related thereto (DE # 172), and to exclude certain portions of the reports of Dr. Kevin Jeffay (“Jeffay”), Dr. Quentin F. Stout (“Stout”), and Mr. Gregory Utas (“Utas”), and all testimony related thereto (DE # 175), both filed October 4, 2006, supported by memorandum and exhibits. Plaintiff filed its responses in opposition (DE #209, 210) on October 24, 2006, to which defendant replied (DE # 237, 236) on November 13, 2006. In this posture, briefing is complete as to both motions and the issues raised are ripe for ruling. For the reasons stated below, the court denies in part and grants in part defendant’s motion to exclude certain portions of the reports of Jeffay, Stout, and Utas, and all testimony related thereto. The court also denies in part and grants in part defendant’s motion to exclude expert reports of Lancaster, and all testimony related thereto. Furthermore, the court will hear, at time of the final pretrial conference, the specific objections to the admissibility of Lancaster’s expert report and testimony related thereto, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993).

*724 STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Plaintiff is a mobile telecommunications company, incorporated and headquartered in France. Defendant is a telecommunications network applications firm incorporated in California with its major operations in Morrisville, North Carolina. After this court’s order denying defendant’s motion for summary judgment (DE #273), entered January 10, 2007, there are thirteen (13) remaining claims upon which plaintiff will proceed to trial. Generally, plaintiffs claims raise a variety of allegations against defendant for conduct allegedly resulting in, or related to, a serious outage of plaintiffs mobile telecommunications network which occurred on November 17 and 18, 2004. The court hereby incorporates the detailed statement of undisputed facts as laid out in the court’s order of January 10, 2007 (DE # 273), and will discuss any other necessary factual context, not included therein, through the course of its analysis as presented below.

COURT’S ANALYSIS

A. Overview

Defendant’s motions seek to exclude the expert reports, or portions of those reports, and testimony related thereto, of four experts upon a variety of grounds. Where there is significant overlap in that several of the objections raised pertain to all of the experts at issue, it is appropriate for the court to address the issues presented by these motions jointly.

Lancaster is a telecommunications expert whose experience spans more than thirty (30) years in the telecommunications field. Jeffay’s areas of expertise include computer science, computer systems, algorithms, computer software, networking, real-time and distributed systems. Stout is a computer science and engineering expert primarily focused on algorithms, data structures and their implementation. Utas, an independent software consultant with expertise in software engineering, was originally designated as an expert. However, the court’s order of September 12, 2006 (DE # 164), required plaintiff to withdraw two of their seven designated experts, so as to comply with the terms of the Case Management Order. Utas was one of the two experts withdrawn, but is now designated as one of plaintiffs rebuttal expert, with his original report being incorporated through the supplemental and amended reports of Lancaster and Jeffay. 1

Defendant asserts a number of objections in furtherance of its arguments to exclude the expert reports, but the arguments can be grouped into three general categories. First, defendant argues the expert reports, or portions thereof, of all four experts are inadmissible to the extent they include opinions regarding improper subject matter. Second, defendant argues the Lancaster, Jeffay and Stout reports improperly rely on the opinions of others. Finally, defendant asserts Lancaster fails to use reliable methodology in general, and that Lancaster is not qualified as an expert in computer science, auditing systems such as the one at issue, network engineering and review, “disaster” recovery, or technical and software equipment.

B. Standard of Review

Rule 702 provides that “[i]f scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge *725 will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert ... may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.” Fed.R.Evid. 702. “Expert testimony is admissible under Rule 702, then, if it concerns (1) scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge that (2) will aid the jury or other trier of fact to understand or resolve a fact or issue.” Westberry v. Gislaved Gummi AB, 178 F.3d 257, 260 (4th Cir.1999) (citing Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharms., 509 U.S. 579, 592, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)). The first prong of the analysis examines the reasoning or methodology to ensure reliability, “that is, whether it is supported by adequate validation to render it trustworthy,” while the second prong looks to ensure that the opinion is relevant to the facts at issue. Id. Reliability and relevance are therefore the cornerstones of the court’s examination in determining admissibility of expert testimony. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786; Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 141, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999).

Specifically, the trial judge faced with a proffer of expert testimony, must conduct “a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is ... valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786. This “gatekeeping obligation” applies to all expert testimony, and not only testimony based in science. Kumho Tire Co., 526 U.S. at 147, 119 S.Ct. 1167. Ultimately, the proponent of expert testimony has the burden to “establish its admissibility by a preponderance of proof.” Cooper v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 259 F.3d 194, 199 (4th Cir.2001).

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Bluebook (online)
472 F. Supp. 2d 722, 2007 WL 4699239, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bouygues-telecom-sa-v-tekelec-nced-2007.