Hubbard v. McDonald's Corp.
| Docket Number: | 2009-IA-00464-SCT Linked Case(s): 2009-IA-00464-SCT |
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| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 06-24-2010 Opinion Author: Chandler, J. Holding: Reversed and remanded |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Personal injury - Expert testimony - M.R.E. 702 Judge(s) Concurring: Waller, C.J., Carlson and Graves, P.JJ., Dickinson, Randolph, Lamar, Kitchens and Pierce, JJ. Procedural History: Interlocutory Appeal; Motion to Strike Testimony Nature of the Case: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY; Interlocutory Appeal |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 03-02-2009 Appealed from: Grenada County Circuit Court Judge: Joseph H. Loper Disposition: Maliyah designated Dr. Anthony DeSalvo as an expert witness on the causal connection between Hubbard’s fall and the premature delivery. The trial court granted McDonald’s’ motion to strike Dr. DeSalvo’s testimony. Case Number: 2004-0292CVL |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | Brief(s) Available: | ||
| Appellant: | Maliyah Ashunti Hubbard, Minor, By and Through Tiffany Hubbard, Her Mother and Natural Guardian |
WILLIAM C. WALKER, JR., FRANK H. SHAW, JR. |
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| Appellee: | McDonald's Corporation, Michael L. Retzer d/b/a McDonald's | SUSAN N. O’NEAL, FRANK THACKSTON | ||
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| Topic: | Personal injury - Expert testimony - M.R.E. 702 |
| Summary of the Facts: | Tiffany Hubbard slipped and fell at her job at a McDonald’s restaurant on April 19, 2002. On April 29, 2002, Hubbard prematurely delivered her daughter, Maliyah Hubbard. Maliyah, by and through Hubbard, commenced this negligence lawsuit against McDonald’s Corporation and Michael L. Retzer, d/b/a McDonald’s, alleging, in part, that Hubbard’s fall had proximately caused Maliyah’s premature birth and her injuries from complications of prematurity. Maliyah designated Dr. Anthony DeSalvo as an expert witness on the causal connection between Hubbard’s fall and the premature delivery. The trial court granted McDonald’s’ motion to strike Dr. DeSalvo’s testimony. The Supreme Court granted Maliyah’s petition for an interlocutory appeal. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | M.R.E. 702 governs the admission of expert testimony. As the gatekeeper, the trial court must ensure that expert testimony admitted at trial is both relevant and reliable as required by Rule 702. In evaluating reliability, the court’s focus must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate. The expert testimony must be based on sufficient facts or data, it must be the product of reliable principles and methods, and the expert must have reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case. Hubbard argues that Dr. DeSalvo’s opinions were not based upon his subjective belief or unsupported speculation, but upon Hubbard’s medical records and the medical literature, and that the medical records and medical literature reviewed by Dr. DeSalvo constituted sufficient facts or data to form the basis of reliable opinions. McDonald’s argues that Dr. DeSalvo merely enumerated possibilities and offered them as fact. The trial court’s ruling that Dr. DeSalvo’s expert testimony was unreliable was arbitrary and clearly erroneous, and constituted an abuse of discretion. Dr. DeSalvo’s opinions were based upon sufficient facts or data, because they were supported by and did not contradict Hubbard’s medical records. His opinions were based on Dr. DeSalvo’s interpretation of Hubbard’s documented signs and symptoms based on his experience, training, and expertise, and did not amount to mere speculation. McDonald’s argues that the negative Nitrazine test and positive trichomonas test conclusively establish that Hubbard’s cramping and fluid leakage were attributable to trichomonas, not a high leak. However, Dr. DeSalvo testified that, while a negative Nitrazine test usually would rule out a rupture of membranes, a negative Nitrazine test does not necessarily rule out a high leak, because the leaking of amniotic fluid is intermittent. Alternatively, he testified that Hubbard’s Nitrazine test probably was performed improperly because it should have, but did not, detect the trichomonas infection from which Hubbard indisputably suffered. Dr. DeSalvo also testified that, although trichomonas can be a cause of preterm labor, in the majority of cases, it does not cause preterm labor. All of these opinions were fully supported by the medical literature. A qualified medical expert is permitted to extrapolate causation testimony from the patient’s clinical picture although the medical records contain no objective medical evidence establishing causation. |
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