LaShip, LLC v. Hayward Baker, Inc.

296 F.R.D. 475, 2013 WL 6017956, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161820
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedNovember 13, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 11-0546
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 296 F.R.D. 475 (LaShip, LLC v. Hayward Baker, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LaShip, LLC v. Hayward Baker, Inc., 296 F.R.D. 475, 2013 WL 6017956, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161820 (E.D. La. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

NANNETTE JOLIVETTE BROWN, District Judge.

This litigation arises out of work that Hayward Baker, Inc. (“HBI” or “Defendant”), a contractor specializing in geotechnical planning and sub-surface construction, did for LaShip, L.L.C. (“LaShip”), a company that [477]*477designs and builds vessels, at LaShip’s shipbuilding facility in Houma, Louisiana, and on adjacent property owned by the Terrebonne Port Commission (“TPC”). LaShip and TPC (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) allege that HBI’s soil improvement and foundation work was defective, undermining the integrity of structures on the sites. LaShip and TPC bring causes of action for breach of contract, negligence, breach of implied duty of good and workmanlike performance, and equitable es-toppel/detrimental reliance.1

Before the Court is Defendant’s motion to strike certain testimony given by Plaintiffs’ witness Joseph Waxse, who was designated as a Rule 26(a)(2)(C) witness (an expert who was not required to produce a report) prior to trial and was the subject of a motion in limine. The motion at issue here was made orally at trial on November 1, 2013. The Court has considered the applicable law, the record, and the parties’ briefs, and for the reasons that follow; Defendant’s motion is granted.

I. Background

In its prior Orders, the Court has discussed the alleged facts underlying the litigation between Plaintiffs LaShip and TPC and Defendant HBI, and the Court will not revisit those allegations here.2 The information that follows is specific to the motion pending before the Court.

A. Joseph A. Waxse and Terracon Consultants

Joseph A. Waxse is an engineer with Ter-racon Consultants, Inc., a geotechnical engineering firm. Terracon was a sub-contractor engaged by A.H. Beck in the course of A.H. Beck’s remediation work at the LaShip site.3 Terracon conducted Cone Penetrometer Testing (“CPT”) to measure soil strength and compressability and to assess the soil type in areas where HBI had allegedly installed soil-mixed columns.4 Terracon was also asked to design a new geotechnical foundation plan based on the results of the CPT and other information.5

B. The Court’s August 13, 2013 Ruling

In their initial expert disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, Plaintiffs designated Mr. Waxse as a Rule 26(a)(2)(C) expert.6 On July 2, 2013, Defendant filed a motion in limine, asserting that Mr. Waxse, as well as other witnesses, should have been designated as Rule 26(a)(2)(B) experts and required to disclose expert reports.7 Alternatively, Defendant contended that Plaintiffs’ disclosures regarding Mr. Waxse and the other 26(a)(2)(C) ■witnesses were inadequate.8

On August 13, 2013, the Court ruled on Defendant’s motion in limine, granting the motion in part and denying in part.9 The Court found that Mr. Waxse was properly designated as a Rule 26(a)(2)(C) expert, but ordered Plaintiffs to supplement their disclosure.10

The Court’s finding that Mr. Waxse was properly designated as a Rule 26(a)(2)(C) expert was based on the specific information provided to the Court at that time. Relying on the First Circuit’s opinion in Downey v. Bob’s Discount Furniture Holdings, Inc.,11 the Court explained in addressing the proposed testimony of Joseph Waxse, as well as that of Ian Kolda, Robert Traylor, and Roger Failmezger, as 26(a)(2)(C) witnesses:

Plaintiffs have outlined the work the contracting companies of the Witnesses were [478]*478engaged to perform, and how the Witnesses’ testimonies will be based on their personal knowledge and own tests conducted. Moreover, as Plaintiffs have pointed out, there is no evidence of an expert fee arrangement between these Witnesses and Plaintiffs. Likewise, there is no evidence that the Witnesses intend to rely on anyone else’s opinions in their testimony at trial. As such, it appears that the Witnesses’ participation in this matter was ‘not retained or specially employed in connection with the litigation, and [their] opinion[s] about causation are premised on their personal knowledge and observations made in the course of treatment’ and ‘the expert[s] [are] part of the ongoing sequence of events and arrives at his causation opinion during treatment,’ and therefore not within the ambit of Rule 26(a)(2)(B).12

The Court stated that “as long as their testimony at trial is confined to their personal knowledge, they are not Rule 26(a)(2)(B) witnesses,” 13 and concluded that “[f]or all these reasons, the Court finds that Rule 26(a)(2)(B) is not applicable to the Witnesses, and instead the Witnesses are governed by Rule 26(a)(2)(C),”14.

For the purposes of the pending motion, the Court now notes that in _ the briefs regarding Defendant’s motion in limine and the Court’s opinion, the status of these witnesses was addressed as a group of contractors, who were engaged to perform components of the same project. There was relatively little detail on the specific knowledge and testimony of the witnesses individually. Now, the Court has more information.

C. Mr. Waxse’s Testimony at Trial

As part of his testimony at trial on November 1, 2013, Mr. Waxse stated that he was asked to develop a repair design for Phase II, the bulkhead area of Plaintiffs’ shipbuilding facility. In developing a design, he reviewed the CPT results, which showed variability in the consistency of what he understood to be soil-mixed columns. Based on the CPT results, Mr. Waxse decided that if it were unknown whether the soil-mixed columns were continuous enough to perform in the intended manner, then the prudent thing would be to replace them. His repair design called for a new line of grout column piles in a continuous secant wall, which would be similar to the original secant wall made with soil-mixed columns. Mr. Waxse believed a new wall was necessary because he could not determine where the soil-mixed columns had strength and where they did not.

Mr. Waxse further testified that in addition to the CPT results, he also relied on or considered information from Derek Básele, a La Ship employee, indicating that core testing had revealed that about 20% of the HBI soil-mixed columns were defective. Mr. Waxse never saw the results of the core testing and never witnessed the core testing as it was being conducted.

Additionally, Mr. Waxse confirmed that he never conducted more exhaustive subsurface exploration and finite element modeling, which potentially could have yielded a less extensive remedial program.

Finally, Mr. Waxse explained that his estimate with respect to Phase II was developed in response to an email from Brian Engeron, in-house counsel for LaShip, and Mr. Waxse was aware that his estimate would be used for litigation purposes. According to Mr.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
296 F.R.D. 475, 2013 WL 6017956, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laship-llc-v-hayward-baker-inc-laed-2013.