Taylor v. Illinois Cent. R. Co.
| Citation | 8 F.3d 584 |
| Decision Date | 29 October 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-4148,92-4148 |
| Parties | 39 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1073 Robert E. TAYLOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
Laurence C. Acker (argued), Henslee, Monek & Henslee, Patrick J. Harrington, Robert Earl Harrington, Jr., Harrington, Thompson, Acker & Harrington, Jr., Chicago, IL, for plaintiff-appellant.
Paul M. Brown (argued), Robert T. Mills, Coburn & Croft, St. Louis, MO, for defendant-appellee.
Before FLAUM and KANNE, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.
In an action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA"), 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq., Robert Taylor ("Taylor") sued his employer, Illinois Central Railroad Company ("Illinois Central"), for injuries he sustained while attempting to board a moving train. He sued Illinois Central for negligence, alleging in part that the ballast Illinois Central used under the tracks was too large and therefore unstable, causing him to fall. A jury found Illinois Central was not negligent in providing a reasonably safe workplace under FELA. Taylor appeals both the district court's exclusion of one of his expert witnesses and two of the district court's jury instructions. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.
On March 19, 1988, Taylor was working as a conductor on a train originating in Bluford, Illinois, bound for Mattoon, Illinois. En route, the crew made a stop at a rail yard in Effingham, Illinois to remove and add some rail cars. After the crew had finished their work in Effingham, they broke for lunch. Prior to going to lunch, Taylor decided to put some of his belongings in one of the engine cars. The engineer, D.C. Brubaker, was moving the train away from an automobile intersection at a speed of approximately 7-10 miles per hour when Taylor attempted to board the engine car. Rather than board the train near the intersection, where the ground underneath the tracks was primarily asphalt pavement, Taylor walked approximately 120 feet south of the intersection where the ground underneath the tracks consisted of "mainline" ballast. Mainline ballast is primarily limestone or other rocks, between one and three inches in diameter. While attempting to board the moving train, Taylor stepped up with his right foot but slipped with his left foot. He felt a "pop" in his left leg, and was taken to the hospital where doctors treated him for a broken leg.
Taylor alleged in part that Illinois Central was negligent in not using "yard" ballast, a smaller ballast consisting primarily of rocks one-half to one inch in diameter, in lieu of mainline ballast at the location of his fall, arguing that yard ballast would have provided safer and more stable footing than the larger mainline ballast. In an effort to demonstrate the importance of ballast caliber, Taylor sought to introduce the testimony of R.E. Dipprey ("Dipprey") as an expert witness regarding unsafe ballast conditions. Dipprey had worked for Southern Pacific Transportation Company and one of its subsidiaries for a little over forty-one years. During that time, he had worked as a conductor, brakeman, trainmaster, and a variety of other positions. However, he was not an engineer and had never worked in the Maintenance of Way Department, the department primarily responsible for the construction and maintenance of the tracks and the ballast underneath the tracks. Dipprey's proffered testimony concerned the different ballast sizes and would have stated that Taylor's accident could have been prevented had Illinois Central spread smaller ballast on top of the mainline ballast.
The district court granted Illinois Central's motion to exclude Dipprey's testimony because ballast caliber and its relation to stable footing was within the ordinary juror's lay understanding. Taylor also objected to two jury instructions in which the district court essentially stated that if Taylor was the "sole cause" of his accident, then he should not recover from Illinois Central. The jury found that Illinois Central was not negligent and denied recovery to Taylor.
Taylor filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and if granted, a trial on the issue of damages. The district court denied both motions. Taylor appeals.
The district court has broad discretion to admit or exclude expert testimony and we will not disturb its ruling unless it is "manifestly erroneous." Cella v. United States, 998 F.2d 418, 422-23 (7th Cir.1993) (citing Salem v. United States Lines Co., 370 U.S. 31, 35, 82 S.Ct. 1119, 1122, 8 L.Ed.2d 313 (1962)). Federal Rule of Evidence 702 states that "[i]f 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." Taylor contends that Dipprey would have testified that smaller caliber yard ballast would have provided safer footing than the larger mainline ballast, and that smaller caliber ballast had been used in other rail systems. This issue, already before the jury in several instances, boils down to whether a pile of large rocks is harder to stand on than a pile of smaller rocks. Notwithstanding Dipprey's lengthy experience in the railway industry, any lay juror could understand this issue without the assistance of expert testimony. Therefore it was proper for the district court to exclude Dipprey's testimony. See United States v. Welch, 945 F.2d 1378, 1382 (7th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1235, 117 L.Ed.2d 469 (1992).
Taylor argues further that Dipprey's testimony about other locations using smaller ballast would have proven there was a safer alternative. However, proof of a safer alternative is not necessarily proof of negligence--Illinois Central could have provided a reasonably safe workplace notwithstanding the fact that safer workplace alternatives exist. See, e.g., Stillman v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 811 F.2d 834, 838 (4th Cir.1987). Therefore, Dipprey's testimony about other alternatives would have been superfluous to the evidence already present which demonstrated that larger rocks provided less stable footing that...
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