Castillo v. EI Du Pont De Nemours & Co., Inc.
Citation | 854 So.2d 1264 |
Decision Date | 10 July 2003 |
Docket Number | No. SC00-490.,SC00-490. |
Parties | John CASTILLO, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO., INC., et al., Respondents. |
Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James L. Ferraro of Ferraro & Associates, P.A., Miami, FL; Elizabeth K. Russo and Philip D. Parrish of Russo Parrish Appellate Firm, Miami, FL; and Joel S. Perwin of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami, FL, for Petitioners.
Arthur J. England, Jr. of Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Miami, FL; Edward W. Warren and Jeffrey Bossert Clark of Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC; and David Kleinberg of Gaebe Murphy Mullen & Antonelli, Coral Gables, FL, for Respondents.
Martin S. Kaufman, Atlantic Legal Foundation, New York, NY, for Mason Barr, M.D., Jaime L. Frias, M.D., Richard K. Miller, Ph.D., and Janine E. Polifka, Ph.D., Amici Curiae.
We have for review E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., Inc. v. Castillo, 748 So.2d 1108 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), which expressly and directly conflicts with the opinion in Berry v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 709 So.2d 552 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the reasons set forth below, we quash the Third District's decision and hold that the expert testimony offered by the petitioners at trial was admissible under Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir.1923).
This case involves a products liability and negligence claim against E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. (DuPont), the manufacturer of Benlate, and Pine Island Farms, Inc. (Pine Island), the owners of a "u-pick" farm which used Benlate and operated in the petitioners' neighborhood. Donna and John Castillo (the Castillos) allege that when Mrs. Castillo was seven weeks pregnant, she was exposed to Benlate, an agricultural fungicide used by Pine Island. They further allege that benomyl, the active ingredient in Benlate, entered her bloodstream and caused microphthalmia, a rare birth defect involving severely underdeveloped eyes, in her unborn son John.
The complaint against DuPont and Pine Island was filed after the Castillos were contacted by British reporter John Ashton, who was conducting an investigation into the relationship between Benlate and children born with microphthalmia in Great Britain. He asked Mrs. Castillo if she lived on or near a farm. She told him she lived near the "u-pick" farm. Ashton then contacted Lynn Chaffin, the manager of Pine Island, and asked him if Pine Island had sprayed Benlate on the "u-pick" field in November 1989. Chaffin told him that Pine Island had sprayed Benlate in November of 1989. Although at trial Chaffin testified that he did not remember such a conversation, telephone records confirm an eight-minute phone conversation originating in London, England.
The Third District's opinion below recites the following facts:
Castillo, 748 So.2d at 1111-12 (footnotes omitted).
The Castillos' expert, Dr. Charles Vyvyan Howard, testified in pretrial depositions that he believed that fetal exposure to benomyl at the concentration of 20 parts per billion (ppb) in the maternal bloodstream would cause microphthalmia in humans based on his conclusions from (1) rat gavage studies; (2) lab experiments on human and rat cells; and (3) the results of dermal exposure testing done by DuPont's own scientist. He testified that he considered epidemiological studies but that those studies were flawed and offered little information.
At the Frye hearing, DuPont and Pine Island moved to exclude Dr. Howard's testimony, arguing that his methodology for determining whether and at what level Benlate could cause birth defects in humans was not generally accepted in the scientific community and thus was inadmissible. The trial court denied DuPont and Pine Island's motion and the expert testimony was admitted.
At the close of evidence at trial, DuPont moved for a directed verdict arguing that the Castillos failed to prove that Benlate is defective and that any such defect proximately caused the microphthalmia. The jury returned a verdict for the child, John Castillo, holding DuPont strictly liable and holding both DuPont and Pine Island negligent. The total award was $4 million, allocating 99.5% against DuPont and .5% against Pine Island.
On appeal, Pine Island raised two issues: (1) that there was no evidence that Benlate was used on the farm in November 1989; and (2) that the Castillos' scientific evidence should not have been admitted into evidence. As to the first issue, the Third District found Chaffin's "admission" that Benlate was used in November 1989 compelling evidence against Pine Island and affirmed the trial court's judgment. As to the second issue, involving the admissibility of the expert scientific testimony, the Third District reversed the jury verdict and determined that the testimony did not meet the test set out in Frye.
DuPont raised four issues, two of which the Third District did not address.1 The arguments the Third District found persuasive, however, were (1) that the Castillos failed to prove that Mrs. Castillo was exposed to Benlate in their case against DuPont, since Chaffin's admission was not admissible hearsay against DuPont; and (2) the scientific evidence should not have been admitted into evidence under Frye.
An amicus brief was filed by four doctors supporting DuPont's and Pine Island's position.
For the reasons discussed below, we quash the Third District's decision and hold that the trial court properly admitted the Castillos' experts' testimony under Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir.1923). We also hold that even absent Lynn Chaffin's testimony against DuPont, there was enough direct evidence that Mrs. Castillo was exposed to Benlate to support the jury's verdict against DuPont.2
To determine whether expert testimony is admissible under section 90.702, Florida Statutes (2001), Florida courts follow the test set out in Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C.Cir.1923):
Just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable states is difficult to define. Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential force of the principle must be recognized, and while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a wellrecognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs.
Id. at 1014 (emphasis added). "This test requires that the scientific principles undergirding this evidence be found by the trial court to be generally accepted by the relevant members of its particular field." Hadden v. State, 690 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1997).
approved, 625 So.2d 827 (Fla.1993)). Furthermore, the issue of general acceptance is to be made at the time of appeal, rather than at the time of trial. See Hadden, 690 So.2d at 579.
The Castillos' experts testified: (1) that benomyl is a teratogen; and (2) as to the dosage level at which it becomes a teratogen.3 We must consider whether the scientific principles upon which the Castillos' experts based their opinions are...
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