Frazier v. Leotta

54 A.3d 1134, 2010 Del. Super. LEXIS 632, 2010 WL 8753362
CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedDecember 23, 2010
DocketCivil Action No. 09C-06-047-JOH
StatusPublished

This text of 54 A.3d 1134 (Frazier v. Leotta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frazier v. Leotta, 54 A.3d 1134, 2010 Del. Super. LEXIS 632, 2010 WL 8753362 (Del. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

HERLIHY, J.

On the eve of trial the Court has been asked to exclude certain defense evidence relating to the force of impact between plaintiffs’ car and defendant Joseph Leot-ta’s tractor trailer truck; the goal of that to undercut plaintiffs’ injuries claim. Plaintiff Milton Frazier was driving with plaintiff Andrew Clemmons as a passenger. They were crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge headed toward New Jersey on their way to work. Leotta was driving in the same direction.

Leotta attempted to move from one lane to another and in the process the right side of his truck bumper came in contact with the rear left side of Frazier’s 2008 [1136]*1136Mazda 4 door sedan. The Mazda had been rented from Hertz.

The proffered testimony at issue would come from three experts, all listed by defense as witnesses who wrote two reports. Two experts co-authored a report which is dated July 27, 2009, and it and the other report reach the conclusion that the side impact between the truck and the Mazda was not significant and certainly not to the level supporting the extent of injuries each plaintiff claims.

The defense reports and the plaintiffs’ motion raise again the vexatious issue of testimony seeking to equate minimal impact and minimal potential injury; or to rebut the extent of damages being claimed. While this kind of “biomechanical” testimony has been the subject of various opinions, the line-up of experts here is unique, without precedent in those opinions, and requires a novel analysis.

Discussion

The Delaware Rules of Evidence 702 and 705 govern the admissibility of expert testimony.1 D.R.E 702 states:

If scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.2

The Delaware Supreme Court in M.G. Bancorporation v. Le Beau,3 incorporated the United States Supreme Court holdings involving the federal rules of evidence in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals4 and Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael5 to the Delaware rules regarding the admissibility of expert testimony. Under D.R.E. 702, the trial judge must determine whether:

(1) the witness is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education; (2) the evidence is relevant; (3) the expert’s opinion is based upon information reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field; (4) the expert testimony will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue; and (5) the expert testimony will not create unfair prejudice or confuse or mislead the jury.6

In determining whether expert testimony should be admitted, the trial judge is considered a “gatekeeper” and must assess whether the evidence presented is reliable and relevant.7 The main objective is to ensure that the expert, whether basing his or her opinions on professional studies or personal experience, “employs in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of the expert in the relevant [1137]*1137field.”8 This means expertise in certain areas can be developed through ways other than being subjected to peer and publication or being found as “generally accepted.” 9

The starting point for the discussion in this case is Eskin v. Carden in which the Supreme Court said:

We hold that trial judges may admit qualified biomechanical expert testimony regarding the physical forces involved in automobile accidents and the effect on the human body those forces may produce where the relevance, reliability and trustworthiness of that testimony is established by the proffer and is not outweighed by the danger of confusion of the issues or misleading the jury.10
The Supreme Court went on to explain: Eskin proffered Thibault’s testimony to link “the contention of slight damage to a contention tending to minimize the plaintiffs physical injuries.” For that type of proffered testimony to be admitted, the proponent must first present reliable competent expert testimony relevant to the circumstances of the particular case. Admissible biomechanical testimony bridges the gap between the general forces at work in an accident determined by physical forces analysis (whether it be “physics” or “engineering”) and the specific injuries suffered by the particular person who was affected by those forces. The testimony must provide definitive evidence that the physics of a particular accident did (or did not) cause a particular injury to a particular individual. A trial judge must closely scrutinize this testimony to be confident that it is trustworthy, i.e., relevant reliable and validated. Neither here, nor, we suspect, in most cases, will the issue be the competency of an expert or whether the field of “biomechanics” is a recognized scientific or technical field. The words of an expert qualified to opine within a recognized “field” do not automatically guarantee reliable, and therefore admissible, testimony, however. The inquiry will be whether the expert and the “field of expertise” itself can produce an opinion that is sufficiently informed, testable and in fact verifiable on an issue to be determined at trial. The trial judge must be satisfied that the generalized conclusions of the biom-echanical expert are applicable to a particular individual. For example, did the expert consider the effect of pre-existing medical conditions and the unique susceptibility of a particular plaintiff to the injuries claimed? Does the “field” of biomechanical engineering adequately test for these highly individualized characteristics and document verifiable statistical result about which an expert within the field can render a trustworthy opinion in a particular case.11

Continuing, the Supreme Court explained the applicability of “biomechanics” in automobile accident trials:

Biomechanics is defined as “the mechanical bases of biological, especially muscular, activity; also: the study of the principles and relations involved.” For purposes of simplicity, we define biome-chanics as the study of the effects of forces and motion on the human body. [1138]*1138Accordingly, we recognize that an individual demonstrating knowledge, skill, experience, training or education in the field of biomechanics may be qualified to testify generally about how the human body will react to the impact of forces exerted upon it during an automobile accident. The use of applied physics by trained engineers aided by computer simulations, control groups and crash test dummies, does create indicia of reliability and may be relevant and ultimately trustworthy in the circumstances of a given case.12

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Related

Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
509 U.S. 579 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael
526 U.S. 137 (Supreme Court, 1999)
M.G. Bancorporation, Inc. v. Le Beau
737 A.2d 513 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1999)
Ward v. Shoney's, Inc.
817 A.2d 799 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2003)
Eskin v. Carden
842 A.2d 1222 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2004)
Bowen v. EI DuPont De Nemours & Co., Inc.
906 A.2d 787 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 A.3d 1134, 2010 Del. Super. LEXIS 632, 2010 WL 8753362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frazier-v-leotta-delsuperct-2010.