Bully v. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.

55 V.I. 30, 2010 WL 9536616, 2010 V.I. LEXIS 96
CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedJuly 2, 2010
DocketMaster Docket No. SX-05-CV-799, Individual Docket Nos. SX-05-CV-812, SX-05-CV-806, SX-05-CV-847, SX-05-CV-846
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 55 V.I. 30 (Bully v. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bully v. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp., 55 V.I. 30, 2010 WL 9536616, 2010 V.I. LEXIS 96 (visuper 2010).

Opinion

WILLOCKS, Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(July 2, 2010)

Defendant Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corporation (HOVIC) is a corporation which owned and operated an oil refinery from 1965 to 1998 on St. Croix, Virgin Islands of the United States. Defendant HOVIC was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Defendant Amerada Hess Corporation (now Hess Corporation) from 1965 to 1998. During that period of time, [36]*36Defendant HOVIC purchased or leased catalyst from various manufacturers for use in the oil refining process.

Plaintiffs, John Bully, Alexander Emile, Richard Maxwell, and Julien McSween were employees of contractors such as Litwin, Riggers and Erectors, and Virgin Islands Industrial Maintenance Corporations, all of whom Defendant HOVIC retained to conduct catalyst work at the Refinery. Plaintiffs claim that as a result of the exposure to catalyst, they developed mixed dust pneumoconiosis.

Plaintiff John Bully loaded and unloaded catalyst in the Platformer units, Desulfurization units, and Sulfur and Beavon Units. He also swept up spilled catalyst and entered the reactors to level catalyst and chip spent catalyst. It is estimated that he worked with catalyst on over 50 occasions from 1974 through the early part of 1990s.

Plaintiff Alexander Emile worked with catalyst from 1989 through 1994. He chipped spent catalyst in many of the Desulfurization units and cleaned out the inside of reactors.

Plaintiff Richard Maxwell loaded and unloaded catalyst and went inside reactors in the Platformer and Desulfurization units from the early 1970s to around 1995.

Plaintiff Julien McSween worked with catalyst from 1988 to around 1995. He opened fresh catalyst and swept and shoveled up catalyst spills. After the . unloading of the catalyst, he sealed up the drums of spent catalyst.

Defendants vigorously challenge the admissibility of the testimony of Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum and have requested a Daubert Hearing, pursuant to Daubert v. Merell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993). The Court granted Defendants’ Motion for a Daubert Hearing.1 At the Daubert Hearing, Plaintiffs called Dr. Teitelbaum and Defendants called Dr. David Alan Galbraith. Dr. Galbraith is an urgent care physician at the Alto Medical Foundation in the Silicon Valley, and a consultant with the Chemrisk Company in San Francisco, where he evaluates workers who are at risk or already exposed to chemicals and evaluates the circumstances of those exposures.

[37]*37Pursuant to the Federal Rules of Evidence, the trial court has been entrusted with the task of being the gatekeeper “to ensure that any and all expert testimony or evidence is not only relevant, but also reliable.” See Pineda v. Ford Motor Co., 520 F. 3d 237, 243 (3d Cir. 2008) and Daubert, 509 U.S. 579 at 589, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993).

Admissibility under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence is governed by Rule 104(a), which requires the judge to conduct preliminary fact-finding to make “a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid,” and thus enables the judge to exclude evidence presented in the plaintiffs’ prima facie case. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93. A party who wants to introduce expert testimony bears the burden of showing that a technique is reliable by more than a prima facie showing. In re Paoli R.R. Yard PCB Litig. [Paoli II], 35 F.3d 717, 743 (3d Cir. 1994); U.S. v. Downing, 753 F.2d 1224, 1240 n.21 (1985) (“it is plain that the proponent must make more than a prima facie showing . . . that a technique is reliable.”).

For admissibility, such evidence must satisfy the three major requirements set forth in Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.2 These major requirements are: (1) the proffered expert must be qualified; (2) the expert must give an opinion “about matters requiring scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge” which is obtained or derived from a rehable process or technique; and (3) the expert’s testimony must “assist the trier of fact,” in other words, it must “fit” the facts of the case. Pineda, 520 F. 3d at 244; Paoli II, 35 F.3d at 741.

The Third Circuit has held that “Rule 702 embodies a trilogy of restrictions on expert testimony: qualification, reliability and fit.” Schneider ex rel. Estate of Schneider v. Fried, 320 F.3d 396, 404 (3d Cir. 2003) (noting that Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was amended to include this trilogy and referring to Brown v. Southeastern Pa. Transp. Auth. (Paoli II), 35 F.3d at 741-743 (3d Cir. 1994) (citing Daubert v. Merrell [38]*38Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1993)).

Whether Dr. Daniel T. Teitelbaum is Qualified and that Dr. Daniel T. Teitelbaum should be Prohibited from Testifying on Matters in Which he has no Qualifications, Knowledge, Skill, Experience, Training or Education

To clear the hurdle of qualification, an expert must “possess specialized expertise.” Schneider ex rel. Estate of Schneider v. Fried, 320 F.3d 396, 404 (3d Cir. 2003). Rule 702 requires the witness to have “specialized knowledge” regarding the area of testimony. The basis of this specialized knowledge “can be practical experience as well as academic training and credentials.”

The Courts have interpreted the specialized knowledge requirement liberally and have stated that this policy of liberal admissibility of expert testimony “extends to the substantive as well as the formal qualification of experts.

In other words, in satisfying the qualification prong, the Courts have used a liberal policy of admissibility illustrated by Rule 702 “a broad range of knowledge, skills, and training qualify an expert.” Paoli II, 35 F.3d at 741-742; Hammond v. International Harvester Co., 691 F.2d 646, 652-53 (3d Cir. 1982); Knight v. Otis Elevator Co., 596 F.2d 84, 87-88 (3d Cir. 1979).

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Related

Edwards v. Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp.
66 V.I. 218 (Superior Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 V.I. 30, 2010 WL 9536616, 2010 V.I. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bully-v-hess-oil-virgin-islands-corp-visuper-2010.