Brickley v. Scattered Corp. (In re H & M Oil & Gas, LLC)

511 B.R. 408
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJune 5, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 12-32785-BJH; Adversary No. 13-3066-BJH
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 511 B.R. 408 (Brickley v. Scattered Corp. (In re H & M Oil & Gas, LLC)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brickley v. Scattered Corp. (In re H & M Oil & Gas, LLC), 511 B.R. 408 (Tex. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BARBARA J. HOUSER, Bankruptcy Judge.

Before the Court are two Daubert motions filed by the Defendants, specifically: (1) Scattered Corporation’s Motion to Bar Expert Testimony at Trial [Dkt. No. 123] and Brief in Support of Motion to Bar Expert Testimony at Trial [Dkt. No. 124] (the “Scattered Motion”); and (2) Leon A. Greenblatt, Ill’s Motion to Exclude John Bittner as an Expert Witness and Brief in Support [Dkt. No. 136] (the “Greenblatt Motion” and, together with the Scattered Motion, the “Daubert Motions”). Plaintiff Douglas J. Brickley, Chapter 7 trustee (the “Trustee”) for H & M Oil and Gas, LLC (“HMOG”), opposes the Daubert Motions and filed his response and brief in opposition on May 26, 2014 [Dkt. No. 140] (the “Trustee’s Response”). By agreement of the parties, the Daubert Motions were set for hearing on Friday, May 30, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. (the “Daubert Hearing”). Trial of this adversary proceeding is scheduled to commence on June 9, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. This Memorandum Opinion and Order contains the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the Daubert Motions.

I. Applicable Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Evidence 702 serves as the proper standard for determining the admissibility of expert testimony. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 597-98, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Rule 702 provides:

A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise if:
(a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue;
(b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;
(c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and
(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.

Fed.R.Evid. 702. Daubert and its principles apply to both scientific and non-scientific expert testimony. Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 147, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999). The party proffering expert testimony has the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged expert testimony is admissible. See Fed.R.Evid. 104(a); Moore v. Ashland Chem. Inc., 151 F.3d 269, 276 (5th Cir.1998).

Daubert directs that the trial court determine admissibility under Rule 702 by following the directions provided in Rule 104(a). Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592, 113 S.Ct. 2786. When making its determination under Rule 104(a), “the court is not bound by evidence rules, except those on privilege.” Fed.R.Evid. 104(a).

Experts need not be highly qualified to testify, and differences in expertise go to the weight of the testimony, rather than admissibility. Huss v. Gayden, 571 F.3d 442, 452 (5th Cir.2009). Nonetheless, courts need not admit testimony that is based purely on the ipse dixit of the expert. Gen. Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 146, 118 S.Ct. 512, 139 L.Ed.2d 508 (1997); Moore, 151 F.3d at 276. Further, [413]*413even if the expert is qualified, the basis of his opinion must be reliable and the underlying methodology must have been correctly applied to the case’s particular facts in order for his testimony to be relevant. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 593, 113 S.Ct. 2786; Knight v. Kirby Inland Marine Inc., 482 F.3d 347, 352 (5th Cir.2007). “In short, expert testimony is admissible only if it is both relevant and reliable.” Pipitone v. Biomatrix, Inc., 288 F.3d 239, 243-44 (5th Cir.2002).

Expert witnesses may base opinions on facts or data that the expert “has been made aware of or personally observed.” Fed.R.Evid. 703. If the facts and data relied on are the sorts that experts in that field would reasonably rely on, then those facts “need not be admissible for the opinion to be admitted.” Id. Accordingly, experts may base their opinions on otherwise-inadmissible information, such as hearsay, so long as the information is the sort reasonably relied on in the expert’s field. Factory Mut. Ins. Co. v. Alon USA L.P., 705 F.3d 518, 524 (5th Cir.2013).

The purpose of Rule 703 is largely practical — experts generally base their opinions on information which, to be admissible in court, would entail “the expenditure of substantial time in producing and examining various authenticating witnesses.” Id. (quoting Fed.R.Evid. 703, advisory committee’s note). “Because experts may use their past experience and professional judgment to make critical decisions on the basis of such information outside of court, Rule 703 was intended ‘to bring the judicial practice into line with the practice of the experts themselves when not in court.’ ” Id. at 524 (quoting Fed.R.Evid. 703, advisory committee’s note). Courts nevertheless must serve a gate-keeping function with respect to Rule 703 opinions to ensure “the expert isn’t being used as a vehicle for circumventing the rules of evidence.” Id. (quoting In re James Wilson Assocs., 965 F.2d 160, 173 (7th Cir.1992)). “Rule 703 ‘was not intended to abolish the hearsay rule and to allow a witness, under the guise of giving expert testimony, to in effect become the mouthpiece of the witnesses on whose statements or opinions the expert purports to base his opinion.’ ” Id. (quoting Loeffel Steel Prods., Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 387 F.Supp.2d 794, 808 (N.D.Ill.2005)). The rule ‘Vas never intended to allow oblique evasions of the hearsay rule.” Id. (quoting Loeffel, 387 F.Supp.2d at 808).

II. The Standard As Applied Here

Defendants Leon A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bailey v. Navient
D. New Jersey, 2021
Weinman v. Crowley (In re Blair)
588 B.R. 605 (D. Colorado, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
511 B.R. 408, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brickley-v-scattered-corp-in-re-h-m-oil-gas-llc-txnb-2014.