Bradley v. Ameristep, Inc.
| Decision Date | 24 August 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 14–6087.,14–6087. |
| Citation | 800 F.3d 205 |
| Parties | King BRADLEY, Jr. and Christie Bradley, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. AMERISTEP, INC. and Primal Vantage Co., Inc., Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED:Timothy W. Monsees, Monsees & Mayer, P.C., Kansas City, Missouri, for Appellants. Milton S. Karfis, Clark Hill PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Timothy W. Monsees, Andrew LeRoy, Monsees & Mayer, P.C., Kansas City, Missouri, for Appellants. Milton S. Karfis, Clark Hill PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellees.
Before: SILER, MOORE, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs King Bradley, Jr. (“Bradley”) and Christine Bradley (“Christine”) appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants Ameristep, Inc. and Primal Vantage Co., Inc. on this product liability suit in diversity. For the reasons stated below, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
The facts of this action, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs as the nonmoving party, are as follows. Bradley purchased two replacement treestand ratchet straps (“ratchet straps”) in 2007 or 2008. The ratchet straps were manufactured by defendant Ameristep, Inc., and distributed by defendant Primal Vantage Co., Inc. Bradley used the ratchet straps exclusively in conjunction with a hunting treestand that he already owned. In 2008, Bradley used the ratchet straps to secure his treestand from early September to mid-October. During that time the ratchet straps were exposed to the elements. From late 2008 to mid–2011, Bradley stored the treestand and the ratchet straps in his garage. Bradley set up the treestand again in late May or early June 2011 after inspecting the ratchet straps. He did not attempt to use the treestand again until September 29, 2011. On that date, he visually inspected the treestand and the ratchet straps before climbing into the stand. Within a few minutes of Bradley's ascent into the stand, the ratchet straps broke, causing Bradley to fall to the ground and sustain injuries.
Bradley and his wife, Christine, filed suit in 2012 for damages caused by the fall. Their complaint presents state-law claims against the defendants for strict product liability (a product defect claim), negligent design and manufacture (a product defect claim), strict liability failure to warn, negligent failure to warn, loss of consortium, and violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.
The district court granted the defendants' motions to exclude the testimony of two experts, Charles Powell and Alan Davison, retained by the plaintiffs in connection with the product defect claims.1 Powell would have testified that the defendants failed to include an ultraviolet light inhibitor in the ratchet straps that would have reduced the rate of polymer degradation due to sunlight exposure. Powell would have also testified that the defendants failed to warn and instruct consumers how to recognize when the ratchet straps were no longer safe for use. The district court excluded Powell's testimony because it determined that his expertise was in metallurgy and that Powell's “experience with the webbing material at issue ... is, according to the evidence presented, sparse.” The district court's decision was influenced by a previous decision in which another district court had excluded Powell's testimony in a nearly identical lawsuit involving the same product. See Freeland v. Ameristep, Inc., No. 13–cv–08–JHP, 2014 WL 1646948 (E.D.Okla. Apr. 24, 2014).
Davison would have testified that the ratchet straps were defective at the time of purchase because they failed to warn of the risks associated with decay of the polypropylene material in the straps. He also would have testified that the defendants failed to recognize the foreseeable use of the ratchet straps and accordingly failed to identify hazards and mitigate risks. Finally, Davison would have testified that the limited warnings provided by the defendants failed to comply with the relevant industry standards. The district court excluded Davison's testimony because it concluded that, “There is no evidence that he possesses any expertise ... in the use of polymers or the design of the products at issue.” Having excluded these two experts, the district court concluded that there was no evidence to support the plaintiffs' claims for strict product liability or negligent design and manufacture and granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on those claims.
Next, the district court addressed the claims alleging a failure to provide an adequate warning. The court concluded that, notwithstanding any failure of the defendants, Bradley was aware of the dangers of exposing ratchet straps to the elements and then using them to secure a tree stand. The court also faulted Bradley for not proffering an adequate alternative warning. Finally, the court rejected Bradley's argument that defendants should have warned users to use a safety harness, because it determined that Bradley would not have heeded such a warning in the first place. For these reasons, the district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the failure-to-warn claims. Having dismissed all the other claims that might provide a basis for liability, the district court then dismissed Christine's claim for loss of consortium.
On appeal, Bradley challenges the district court's refusal to qualify Powell as an expert witness for the product defect claims, the district court's refusal to apply Tennessee's consumer expectation test to the product defect claims, and the dismissal of the failure-to-warn claims and the loss-of-consortium claim.
Id. at 599–600 (quoting Fed.R.Evid. 702 ). We interpret this rule as imposing a threshold requirement of qualification by “knowledge, skill, experience, training or education,” coupled with a two-part test for relevance (i.e., will the testimony “help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue”) and reliability. See United States v. Cunningham, 679 F.3d 355, 379–80 (6th Cir.2012). We apply an abuse-of-discretion standard when reviewing a district court's decision to exclude expert testimony. Id. at 377.
This appeal implicates the threshold requirement that an expert be qualified. Although a witness is not a qualified expert simply because he self-identifies as such, we take a liberal view of what “knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education” is sufficient to satisfy the requirement. Pride v. BIC Corp., 218 F.3d 566, 577 (6th Cir.2000). “Whether a proposed expert's experience is sufficient to qualify the expert to offer an opinion on a particular subject depends on the nature and extent of that experience.” Cunningham, 679 F.3d at 379.
Powell's qualifications contain numerous general attestations of expertise in materials analysis. The district court seized on Powell's more specific references to metallurgical expertise as the foundation for a negative inference that Powell did not possess the necessary qualifications as to other types of material analysis, including polypropylene polymers. But Powell's credentials clearly mark him as an expert in materials failure analysis—not merely an “engineer,” as the district court described him. Powell has over thirty-five years of experience analyzing the forces and conditions that lead to product failures. He has served as an instructor in materials analysis and microscopic analysis for university students, professional organizations, and state agencies. In the course of his career, Powell has conducted materials failure analysis on “all types of polymer materials,” and on five or six occasions he has specifically analyzed failures of polymer straps or webbing in “load-bearing applications.” In light of this experience, it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to conclude that Powell's expertise was solely in the area of metallurgy and then rely on that conclusion to rule that Powell was unqualified to provide expert testimony about the ratchet straps.
Having excluded both of the experts from testifying about the alleged product defects in the ratchet straps, the district court concluded that, “Absent the testimony of [plaintiffs'] experts ... there is simply no evidence to support their [product defect] claim.” It cited one of our previous decisions for the proposition that “without admissible expert testimony on causation and product defect, no reasonable jury could find for plaintiff because, under Tennessee law, expert testimony is required to establish liability in cases alleging manufacturing and design defects.” See Pride, 218 F.3d at 580–81.
Because the district court abused its discretion in ruling that Powell was unqualified, its dismissal of the product defect claims must be reversed. But the district court's account of the controlling Tennessee law on the necessity of expert testimony was also erroneous, and this error provides a separate and independent ground for reversal.
In Pride, a plaintiff argued that a defectively designed cigarette lighter started a fire that killed her husband. 218 F.3d at 579–80. This court...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Deere & Co. v. FIMCO Inc., CASE NO. 5:15–CV–105–TBR
...testimony ‘help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue’) and reliability." Bradley v. Ameristep, Inc. , 800 F.3d 205, 208 (6th Cir. 2015) (citing United States v. Cunningham , 679 F.3d 355, 379–80 (6th Cir. 2012) ). Here, Deere first alleges that the ex......
-
Jackson v. E-Z-Go Div. of Textron, Inc.
...to testify on account of his "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education." Fed. R. Evid. 702 ; see also Bradley v. Ameristep, Inc. , 800 F.3d 205, 208 (6th Cir. 2015). The Court does "not consider 'the qualifications of a witness in the abstract, but whether those qualifications p......
-
Amber Reineck House v. City of Howell
... ... AMBER REINECK HOUSE, COURTNEY ATSALAKIS, and FAIR HOUSING CENTER OF SOUTHEAST & MID MICHIGAN, INC., Plaintiff, v. CITY OF HOWELL, MAYOR NICK PROCTOR, and TIM SCHMITT, Defendants. No. 20-10203 ... Id. ; see also Bradley v. Ameristep, Inc. , ... 800 F.3d 205, 209 (6th Cir. 2015) (“[W]e take a liberal ... ...
-
Blount v. Stanley Engineering Fastening
...and (3) the testimony must be reliable, as assessed by its factual basis and the sufficiency of its methods. Bradley v. Ameristep, Inc ., 800 F.3d 205, 208 (6th Cir. 2015) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also In re Scrap Metal Antitrust Litig. , 527 F.3d 517, 528–29 (6t......