Cooper v. Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, Inc.

181 F.R.D. 312, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23362, 1997 WL 1006741
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedMarch 18, 1997
DocketNo. 95-1019-22BE
StatusPublished

This text of 181 F.R.D. 312 (Cooper v. Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooper v. Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, Inc., 181 F.R.D. 312, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23362, 1997 WL 1006741 (D.S.C. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

CURRIE, District Judge.

This action arises out of Plaintiffs April 7, 1994, termination by former Defendant Esab Group, Inc. (hereinafter “Esab”).1 Esab terminated Plaintiff after receiving an alcohol-positive urine test report from Defendant Lab Corp.

Pursuant to Local Rule, this matter was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Margaret B. Seymour. Under the authority of 28 U:S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) and Rule 72(a), Fed.R.Civ.P., a Magistrate Judge is authorized to enter an order on a pretrial matter that is not dispositive of a claim. In contrast, when a dispositive motion such as a motion for summary judgment is filed, Rule 72(b) provides that a Magistrate Judge should enter a Report and Recommendation on the matter. A party objecting to a pretrial order of a Magistrate Judge must file objections within 10 days after being served with a copy of the order, and a party objecting to a recommended disposition in a Report must file objections within the same 10 day period. Rule 72(a) & (b), Fed.R.Civ.P.

The matter is before the court on two separate matters. The first is an appeal by Plaintiff of a February 18, 1997, order of the Magistrate Judge granting Lab Corp’s Motion to Exclude the Testimony of pharmacist David Sweeney. Plaintiff timely filed her objections to the order on February 27,1997. The second matter presents Plaintiffs Objections to a Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge filed February 18, 1997. The Report recommended that Defendant Lab Corp’s Motion for Summary Judgment be granted in full. Plaintiff timely filed her objections to the Report on February 27, 1997.

I. Standard of Review

A district judge to whom an appeal of a Magistrate Judge’s order is directed shall consider such objections and shall modify or set aside any portion of the order found to be clearly erroneous or contrary to the law. Rule 72(a). With regard to a dispositive motion, the Magistrate Judge makes only a recommendation to this court. The recommendation has no presumptive weight, and the responsibility to make a final determination remains with the court. Mathews v. Weber, 423 U.S. 261, 96 S.Ct. 549, 46 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). The court is charged with making a de novo review of those portions of the Report to which specific objection is made. The court may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the recommendation of the Magistrate Judge, or recommit the matter to him with instructions. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). It is with the preceding standards in mind that the court has considered the February 18, 1997, order and Report of the Magistrate Judge.

II. Factual Background

The court finds that the facts of this case are adequately set forth in the February 18, 1997, Report on pages 1-2, and need not be reiterated here. The court is aware that Plaintiffs Objections to the Report propose that the court specifically incorporate 32 additional factual findings in its order. These proposed factual findings are supported in [315]*315various interrogatory responses and depositions that comprise the record in this case. The court has carefully studied all 32 of the proposed factual findings and has considered them in ruling on the two matters under consideration. The court has considered these additional matters because the party opposing summary judgment is entitled to have all inferences drawn in its favor.

However, the court declines to expand on the factual background set forth in the Report. There is simply no requirement that the factual summary be an exhaustive cata-logue of all record evidence favorable to both sides. Accordingly, the court declines to adopt Plaintiffs 32 proposed factual findings set forth in its Objections to the Magistrate Judge’s Report. However, as noted above, the court has taken them into consideration in ruling below on Lab Corp’s summary judgment motion.

III. Order Granting Lab Corp’s Motion to Exclude Testimony of David Sweeney

Plaintiff proposed that pharmacist David Sweeney be permitted to offer the following three opinions: (1) that the test results reported by Lab Corp are not reliable evidence of alcohol consumption; (2) that Lab Corp should have known that Esab would rely on the positive test results as reliable evidence of alcohol consumption; and (3) that the positive test results were most likely due to fermentation of glucose in the diabetic Plaintiffs urine.

Lab Corp challenged the admissibility of such testimony on two distinct grounds. First, Lab Corp argued that Mr. Sweeney’s opinion is inadmissible under Rule 702, Fed. R.Evid., because he is not qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education to render the preceding opinions. Lab Corp further argued that even if the court found that Mr. Sweeney was a qualified expert, that his opinions did not represent reliable “scientific knowledge” as required under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Defendant charged that Mr. Sweeney’s opinions were mere unsupported speculation, were not the product of applied scientific technique or methodology, and had not been subject to peer review by anyone in the toxicological laboratory testing field.

Plaintiff responded that Mr. Sweeney’s opinion that the Lab Corp test results were not reliable evidence of alcohol consumption was buttressed, in part, by the opinions of Lab Corp’s own experts. She contended that Mr. Sweeney’s opinion that Lab Corp should have known Esab would have relied on its results as reliable evidence of alcohol consumption was grounded in common sense, and that the fermentation opinion was grounded on the fact that Plaintiff is a Type 2 diabetic, with a known history of high blood sugars, and that the urine specimens were stored at room temperature for 24 to 30 hours before testing.

Relying on Rule 702, the Magistrate Judge concluded that Mr. Sweeney was not qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education to offer the opinions that (1) the positive test results were not reliable evidence of alcohol consumption; and (2) that Lab Corp should have known Esab would rely on the test as evidence of alcohol consumption. This conclusion rested primarily on the fact that Mr. Sweeney is unfamiliar with the standards for urine alcohol testing and the industry standards with respect to toxicological testing laboratories. Relying on Daubert, the Magistrate Judge found that Mr. Sweeney’s fermentation opinion was purely speculative and was not tied to known scientific conclusions based on research or studies. Accordingly, the Magistrate Judge concluded all three opinions were inadmissible either because Mr. Sweeney was unqualified to render such an opinion, or because such opinion failed Daubert.

Rule 702 provides that scientific, technical, and other specialized knowledge is admissible at trial if it “will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” Fed.R.Evid. 702.

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Bluebook (online)
181 F.R.D. 312, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23362, 1997 WL 1006741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-v-laboratory-corp-of-america-holdings-inc-scd-1997.