Wilson v. Woods

• Decision Date: 13 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-60067,97-60067
• Parties: Aristine WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph D. WOODS, Meyers Bakeries, Inc., and MCC Transportation Company, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 935

163 F.3d 935

Aristine WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph D. WOODS, Meyers Bakeries, Inc., and MCC

Transportation Company, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 97-60067.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Jan. 13, 1999.

Anita Mathews Stamps, Stamps & Stamps, Jackson, MS, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Steven Woodburn Wall, Whitman B. Johnson, III, Currie, Johnson, Griffin, Gaines & Myers, Jackson, MS, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, JONES and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Aristine Wilson challenges the district court's refusal to qualify her expert witness as an accident reconstructionist. Finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion, we AFFIRM.

BACKGROUND

This case arose out of an automobile collision in which Joseph D. Woods, an 18-wheel truck driver employed by MCC Transportation Company, struck appellant's automobile as it proceeded forward after stopping at a highway intersection near Yazoo City, Mississippi. Wilson sued the appellees in the Circuit Court of Yazoo County and appellees removed the case to the Southern District of Mississippi.

Appellant's suit alleged that Woods was negligent per se because he was exceeding the 55 mile per hour speed limit when the accident occurred. To support her theory, the appellant moved to qualify A.K. Rosenhan as an accident reconstruction expert. Rosenhan was prepared to testify that, based upon information contained in the accident report, his calculations determined that Woods's truck was traveling 63 miles per hour at the time of the accident. The appellees objected that Rosenhan was not sufficiently qualified as an accident reconstruction expert. The district court sustained the objection and refused to admit the testimony.

Without Rosenhan's testimony, Wilson was unable to prove that Woods exceeded the speed limit and accordingly, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. Wilson appeals on the sole issue of the exclusion of Rosenhan's testimony.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This court reviews a trial court's decision to exclude expert testimony under an abuse of discretion standard. See General Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 118 S.Ct. 512, 515, 139 L.Ed.2d 508 (1997). Accordingly, we have recognized that district courts are given "wide latitude in determining the

admissibility of expert testimony, and the discretion of the trial judge ... will not be disturbed on appeal unless manifestly erroneous." Watkins v. Telsmith, Inc. 121 F.3d 984, 988 (5th Cir.1997) (quoting Eiland v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 58 F.3d 176, 180 (5th Cir.1995) (internal quotations omitted)). In deciding whether the district court abused its discretion in refusing to qualify appellant's expert witness, we are guided by the Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), and Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

DISCUSSION

In Daubert, the Supreme Court instructed district courts to function as gatekeepers and permit only reliable and relevant expert testimony to be presented to the jury. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590-93, 113 S.Ct. at 2795-96. District courts must be assured that the proffered witness is qualified to testify by virtue of his "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education." Fed.R.Evid. 702. A district court should refuse to allow an expert witness to testify if it finds that the witness is not qualified to testify in a particular field or on a given subject. See Holbrook v. Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc., 80 F.3d 777, 781 (3d Cir.1996) ("[T]he district court makes preliminary determinations whether the proposed expert witness is qualified ... under Rule 702.").

To support her theory that Woods exceeded the posted speed limit when the accident occurred, the appellant called Rosenhan as an expert in accident reconstruction. Rosenhan earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in mechanical engineering, but he never completed his doctorate degree. After concluding his educational endeavors, Rosenhan taught courses in mechanical engineering and industrial engineering at various colleges and vocational schools. During the past 25 years, his consulting work has concentrated on fire reconstruction and investigation; however, he testified that he recently shifted his professional emphasis to automobile accident reconstruction.

Wilson moved to qualify Rosenhan as an expert in accident reconstruction. Before the court ruled on the motion, however, the appellees conducted voir dire of Rosenhan, which revealed that 1) although Rosenhan taught college level courses, he never held professorial rank; 2) he never taught an accident reconstruction course or any other course that involved automobile accident reconstruction; 3) he had no degree or certification in accident reconstruction (but he was enrolled in a correspondence course from the Northwestern Traffic Institute); 4) he had not completed the requirements for certification by the Association of Accident Reconstructionists; and, 5) although he had testified in various cases, one court had refused to qualify him as an expert in vehicle accident reconstruction based on his lack of qualifications. Appellees argued Rosenhan was not sufficiently qualified to testify as an expert in this case due to his lack of "training," "experience," an...