Dixon v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad

259 F. Supp. 3d 702
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 22, 2016
DocketCase No. 2:13-cv-14340
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 259 F. Supp. 3d 702 (Dixon v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dixon v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad, 259 F. Supp. 3d 702 (E.D. Mich. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART ■ DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO EXCLUDE TESTIMONY OF DR. WIDMEY- • ER-. (document no. 41), DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTIONS TO EXCLUDE TESTIMONY OF DR. ANDRES ■ (document no. 42), PLAINTIFF’S THEORY OF GENERAL ■ MEDICAL CAUSATION (document no. 44), AND FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (document no. 43), AND DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO LIMIT THE OPINIONS OF EXPERTS (document no. 47)

STEPHEN J. MURPHY, III, United States District Judge

Joseph Dixon worked as a carman for Defendant railroad company Grand Trunk [706]*706Western Railroad Company (“Grand Trunk”). Dixon’s job involved a lot of stooping, squatting, and kneeling, and he alleged in a complaint that those work conditions contributed to the osteoarthritis in his knees from which he now suffers. To prove his case, Dixon retained two experts: Dr. Robert Andres, an ergonomics expert, and Dr. Robert Widmeyer, an orthopedic surgeon. For its part, Grand Trunk retained Dr. Laura Wojcik, a biomechanical engineer, and David Brookings, ⅝ civil engineer.

Each party now moves to exclude the other’s expert testimony. Grand Trunk moves to exclude the testimony of Dixon’s experts on the grounds that they have not sufficiently investigated the particulars of Dixon’s condition and history, and that neither’s methodology satisfies Daubert. See Mots., ECF Nos. 41, 42. Dixon challenges portions of Dr. Wojcik’s opinion as being outside her expertise and also makes a procedural argument that both her testimony and Brookings’ were untimely and should therefore be excluded. Mot., ECF No. 47.

In addition to the motions on expert witnesses, Grand Trunk argues that Dixon’s general medical causation theory itself should be excluded due to the alleged failures of the experts to satisfy Daubert. Mot., ECF No. 44.. And finally, Grand Trunk made a motion for summary judgment, which Dixon has challenged on substantive and procedural grounds. Mot., ECF No. 43; Resp., ECF No. 54.

LEGAL STANDARDS

I. Federal Employers’ Liability Act (“FELA”)

FELA provides in relevant part that:

[e]very common carrier by railroad ... shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier ... for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

45 U.S.C. § 51. FELA is not a worker’s compensation scheme and under it “[t]he employer is not held to an absolute responsibility for the reasonably safe condition of the place, tools, and appliances, but only to the duty of exercising reasonable care to that end.” Baltimore & Ohio S.W. R.R. Co. v. Carroll, 280 U.S. 491, 496, 50 S.Ct. 182, 74 L.Ed. 566 (1930). To recover under the Act, an injured employee must therefore “prove the traditional common law elements of negligence; duty, breach, foreseeability, and causation.” Van Gorder v. Grand Trunk W. R.R., 509 F.3d 265, 269 (6th Cir. 2007). In light of the Act’s remedial purpose, however, the causation requirement is more “relaxed” — a railroad causes or contributes to a railroad worker’s injury if “negligence played a part — no matter how small — in bringing- about the injury.” CSX Transp., Inc. v. McBride, 564 U.S. 685, 692, 705, 131 S.Ct. 2630, 180 L.Ed.2d 637 (2011).

II. Admissibility of Expert Testimony

Rule 702 governs expert testimony. The rule permits an expert to testify in the form of an opinion 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
[707]*707(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.

Fed. R. Evid. 702.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dau-bert provided- additional context, for employing the rule. When faced with a proffer of expert testimony, a trial court must first determine under Rule 104(a), “whether the expert is proposing to testify to (1) scientific knowledge that (2) will assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue.” Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 592, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). The trial court is required to make “a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue.” Id. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786.

Although the Daubert court mentioned certain factors a trial court might consider, see id. at 592-94, 113 S.Ct. 2786, the factors are not meant to be requirements in every case. See In re Scrap Metal Antitrust Litig., 527 F.3d 517, 529 (6th Cir. 2008) (“[t]he Daubert factors do not constitute a ‘definitive checklist or test,’ but may be tailored to the facts of a particular case.”) (citations omitted). Instead, Daubert factors “should be applied only ‘where they are reasonable measures of the reliability of expert testimony.’-” Id. (quoting Gross v. Comm’r, 272 F.3d 333, 339 (6th Cir. 2001)).

In all cases, the burden of establishing the admissibility of expert testimony rests on the party offering the testimony. Pride v. BIC Corp., 218 F.3d 566, 578 (6th Cir. 2000). And though “the rejection of expert testimony is the exception rather than the rule,” the offering party must establish its admissibility by a preponderance of proof. Fed. R. Evid. 702 Advisory Committee Note; Nelson v. Tenn. Gas Pipeline Co., 243 F.3d 244, 251 (6th Cir. 2001).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is proper if there is “no. genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

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