Pacific Steel Group v. Commercial Metals Company

District Court, N.D. California·Decided June 25, 2024·No. 4:20-cv-07683·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 PACIFIC STEEL GROUP, Case No. 20-cv-07683-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO EXCLUDE EXPERT 9 v. WITNESSES AND PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO STRIKE 10 COMMERCIAL METALS COMPANY, et al., Re: Dkt. Nos. 153, 156, 160, 205 11 Defendants. 12 13 Before the Court are Defendants Commercial Metals Company and its subsidiaries’ 14 (collectively, “CMC”) motions to exclude expert witnesses and Plaintiff Pacific Steel Group’s 15 (“Pacific Steel”) motion to strike expert sur-reply report. Dkt. Nos. 153, 156, 160, 205. For the 16 reasons below, the Court DENIES the motions. 17 I. LEGAL STANDARD 18 Federal Rule of Evidence 702 allows a qualified expert to testify “in the form of an opinion 19 or otherwise” where: (a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge 20 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) 21 the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and (d) the expert’s opinion reflects a reliable application of the principles 22 and methods to the facts of the case. 23 Fed. R. Evid. 702. Expert testimony is admissible under Rule 702 if it is both relevant and 24 reliable. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 597 (1993). “[R]elevance 25 means that the evidence will assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in 26 issue.” Cooper v. Brown, 510 F.3d 870, 942 (9th Cir. 2007); see also Primiano v. Cook, 598 F.3d 27 558, 564 (9th Cir. 2010) (“The requirement that the opinion testimony assist the trier of fact goes 1 testimony must “ha[ve] a reliable basis in the knowledge and experience of the relevant 2 discipline.” Primiano, 598 F.3d at 565. To ensure reliability, the Court “assess[es] the [expert’s] 3 reasoning or methodology, using as appropriate such criteria as testability, publication in peer 4 reviewed literature, and general acceptance.” Id. at 564. 5 II. CMC’S MOTIONS 6 A. Theodore Griswold 7 CMC first contends that Theodore Griswold is unqualified to offer an opinion as to the 8 regulatory requirements for constructing a steel mill in California or anywhere else. Dkt. No. 153 9 (“Mot.”) at 2. According to CMC, Mr. Griswold has never worked on obtaining permits for a 10 minimill or any other type of rebar mill in California or elsewhere. See id. (citing Ex. 3 Griswold 11 Tr. at 84:2–6). Next, CMC argues that Mr. Griswold’s opinions should be excluded because his 12 extensive relationship with Pacific Steel makes him biased. See id. at 4. 13 Mr. Griswold is a partner at the Procopio Law Firm in San Diego and has over 30 years of 14 experience representing clients as an environmental attorney in California. Griswold Report at ¶ 15 6. His work has entailed assisting clients with obtaining project approvals and permits, and in 16 opposing permit applications in connection with infrastructure, economic development, industry 17 and renewable energy projects. Id. Additionally, he assists clients in gaining project approvals 18 from federal, state, and local governments, and contests projects (mining, land fill, industrial, and 19 shipping) on behalf of clients seeking to address environmental concerns. See id. at ¶ 7–8. He 20 has won awards as a top-rated lawyer in energy law, environmental law, land use, and zoning. See 21 id. at Ex. 1 (“CV”) at 6. 22 Based on the proffered information, the Court finds that Mr. Griswold is qualified to offer 23 an opinion regarding the process for obtaining regulatory clearance for a large industry project (in 24 this case, a minimill). Mr. Griswold has extensive practical and legal experience in handling 25 complex matters for clients seeking regulatory clearance for industrial-scale projects. While CMC 26 is correct that none of Mr. Griswold’s representations explicitly involved “minimills,” the Court 27 finds his lack of prior experience with this particular type of project goes to the weight of his 1 1993) (“Ms. Clashin’s lack of particularized expertise goes to the weight accorded her testimony, 2 not to the admissibility of her opinion as an expert.”). 3 The Court finds that any purported bias also clearly goes to weight rather than 4 admissibility. “[E]vidence of bias goes toward the credibility of a witness, not his competency to 5 testify, and credibility is an issue for the jury.” United States v. Abonce-Barrera, 257 F.3d 959, 6 965 (9th Cir. 2001); see Hingson v. Pac. Sw. Airlines, 743 F.2d 1408, 1413 (9th Cir. 1984) (“If the 7 testimony is otherwise admissible under Rule 702, the fact that Waters worked for PSA does not 8 preclude his appearance as an expert witness for Hingson.”). Accordingly, the Court finds that 9 Mr. Griswold is qualified to offer testimony regarding the regulatory steps that Pacific Steel would 10 need to take to secure a mill in the greater Los Angeles Basin.1 11 B. Dominick DeSalvo and John Stanich 12 Next, CMC argues that the Court should exclude the expert opinions of Dominick DeSalvo 13 and John Stanich. See Dkt. No. 156 (“Mot.”). DeSalvo and Stanich submitted a joint expert 14 report opining that CMC blocked Pacific Steel from entering a binding contract with Danieli for a 15 MiDa micro mill for 487 days. According to DeSalvo and Stanich this delayed Pacific Steel from 16 constructing its mill project and caused damages (in the form of increased costs of labor, material, 17 equipment, and services necessary for the construction of the mill) totaling at least $17,985,961. 18 See Dkt. No. 156-5, Ex. 3 (“DeSalvo and Stanich Report”) at ¶ 6. They also opine that to the 19 extent Pacific Steel theoretically could have turned to alternative contractors rather than working 20 with Danieli, such “experienced, highly specialized contractors” were unavailable due to the large 21

22 1 CMC contends that if Mr. Griswold is permitted to testify, the Court should grant supplemental discovery given his refusal to answer questions at his deposition on certain topics, specifically the 23 advice he personally provided to Pacific Steel with respect to its regulatory prospects of constructing different kinds of steel mills. See id. at 6–7. To the extent Mr. Griswold refused to 24 answer questions during his deposition, he will be precluded from testifying as to those topics. Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc., Case No. C 10-03561-WHA, 2012 WL 1189898, at *4 (N.D. 25 Cal. Jan. 4, 2012) (“In the interest of fairness, Mr. Lindholm cannot testify on matters he refused to address during his deposition.”). The Court also finds that CMC has not shown that Mr. 26 Griswold “selectively disclos[ed]” attorney opinion or waived the attorney-client privilege generally by testifying as he did. See Genentech, Inc. v. Insmed, Inc., 236 F.R.D. 466, 469 (N.D. 27 Cal. 2006) (“Waiver is not likely to be found when the statements alleged to constitute waiver do 1 number of mill projects under construction across the United States. According to DeSalvo and 2 Stanich, this means that Pacific Steel’s only alternative would be to work with “inexperienced 3 contractors,” and doing so would result in great financial loss. See id. at ¶¶ 17–25.

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