Logsdon v. Baker

• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Writing for the Court: YOUNGDAHL, Senior
• Citation: Logsdon v. Baker, 366 F.Supp. 332 (D. D.C. 1973)
• Decision Date: 16 November 1973
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1694-72.
• Parties: Myrna R. LOGSDON, Mother and Administratrix of the Estate of her son, Mark F. Logsdon, Deceased, Individually and as Wife of Hugh D. Logsdon, Plaintiff, v. Joel P. BAKER et al., Defendants.

366 F. Supp. 332

Myrna R. LOGSDON, Mother and Administratrix of the Estate of her son, Mark F. Logsdon, Deceased, Individually and as Wife of Hugh D. Logsdon, Plaintiff, v. Joel P. BAKER et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 1694-72.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

November 16, 1973.

Leonard C. Collins, and Thomas B. Lawrence of Collins, Lawrence & Larsen, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Anthony E. Grimaldi of Doherty, Sheridan & Grimaldi, Fairfax, Va., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

YOUNGDAHL, Senior District Judge.

This is a wrongful death and survival action by the mother of the decedent to recover damages for the death of her son due to the alleged negligence of the Colonial Fuel Company. Plaintiff is the mother of Mark F. Logsdon and the administratrix of his estate. Defendants are a partnership trading as the Colonial Fuel Company, and the owners of the fuel truck involved in this accident. There is no issue of agency.

Said action came before this Court for trial before a jury on the 4th day of September, 1973. When it appeared, on the issue of liability, that there were no eyewitnesses to the accident and that plaintiff's endeavor to establish a prima facie case rested solely on the testimony of an expert witness, the Court excused the jury in order to conduct a voir dire of the expert. This was done so that the Court, in its discretion, could determine as a matter of law whether there was sufficient factual basis to receive into evidence the expert's opinion on the issue of liability.

After the Court heard the testimony of the expert witness and the arguments of counsel on the admissibility of such testimony, it ruled such expert opinion testimony totally inadmissible. When plaintiff advised the Court that she had no other evidence of liability other than that of the expert's testimony, the Court directed a verdict in favor of defendants. The Court did not consider, as an issue, the affirmative defense of contributory negligence.

It is undisputed that on February 4, 1972, at about 11:45 a. m., plaintiff's decedent, Mark F. Logsdon, was operating a motorcycle in a northerly direction on 33rd Street, N.W., in the District of Columbia. At about the same time a fuel truck owned by the Colonial Fuel Company and being operated by Paul Wolworth within the scope of his employment was proceeding in an easterly direction on Tennyson Street, approaching the intersection with 33rd Street. 33rd Street has two lanes running north and south. Tennyson Street has two lanes running east and west. The two streets intersect each other at approximately right angles. The intersection is controlled by stop signs on the northeast and southwest corners of Tennyson. A collision occurred within the intersection between decedent's motorcycle and defendant's truck. It was daylight, the weather clear and the roads dry.

There were no eyewitnesses to the accident. Both drivers were alone, and the truck driver was neither deposed nor called to testify at trial. One of plaintiff's witnesses, a postman, testified that although he was between 200 and 300 feet from the intersection when he heard the collision, he did not see it happen.

There were no skid marks by either vehicle at the scene of the accident. Photographs taken at the accident site by the police do not reveal the presence of skid marks and none were observed by witnesses.

It is undisputed that the motorcycle struck the truck's right rear wheel in the southeast corner of the intersection. Photographs of the debris at the scene and the testimony of the postman establish this as the general area of the collision. A more precise location cannot be established in view of the fact that the motorcyclist did not survive the accident, the truck driver was neither deposed nor called to testify, and the deposition of the investigating officer was not offered into evidence. The postman testified that after hearing the crash he proceeded towards the intersection to investigate. He observed that part of the truck had already cleared the intersection and was at rest in the eastern portion of Tennyson Street. He saw the motorcycle lying against the south curb, five feet east of the eastern curb line of Tennyson, the body of the decedent positioned near it, and his helmet 90 to 100 feet into the eastern portion of Tennyson Street. The postman also testified that he watched the truck driver stand the motorcycle up and turn it around and then saw him drive his truck out of the intersection and park it 150 feet further east on Tennyson. The driver then returned to the accident site and began mopping up the oil spill from the motorcycle.

Since both vehicles were moved before the police arrived, the photographs taken at the scene of the accident do not indicate the position of the vehicles immediately after impact. Although the photographs were received into evidence, they merely depict various views of the intersection and show the damage to the two vehicles. There are no photographs of the position of the decedent's body since he too had been removed from the scene when the police arrived.

The measurements taken at the scene of the accident by the investigating officer were not offered into evidence. However, it should be noted that the only measurements which he took were the width of the two streets and the estimated point of collision. As indicated above, there were no skid marks to measure and the two vehicles had already been moved from the point of impact before the police arrived.

Plaintiff presented no evidence of the condition of the brakes of either the truck or the motorcycle. Nor was any evidence introduced concerning the kind, condition or inflation of the tires of either vehicle. There was no testimony as to the type of street surface at the accident scene.

Aside from the testimony of the postman, who did not witness the accident, and a neighbor, who also testified as to the position of the decedent's body after the accident, plaintiff's entire case as to defendant's liability rests exclusively upon the testimony of the expert witness.

Plaintiff called as an expert witness on accident reconstruction a scientist and engineer specializing in mechanical engineering and related physical sciences dealing with automotive work. He testified that 17 months after the accident he visited the intersection of Tennyson and 33rd Streets where the accident occurred. There he took various sight-distance measurements. He then visited the Colonial Fuel Company where he inspected the truck which had been involved in the accident. No evidence was received concerning the use of the truck over the 17-month period. From these visits and inspections almost a year and a half after the accident, and primarily from a detailed examination of the photographs received into evidence, the expert attempted to reconstruct the speed of both vehicles and to explain how the collision occurred.

Although acknowledging the absence of skid marks in any of the photographs, he claimed he was able to discern "brake marks" in one of the photographs which he "assumed" came from the truck involved in this accident. He testified that his measurments of these brake marks in this one photograph enabled him to deduce the speed of both vehicles and conclude that the truck had failed to stop for the stop sign before proceeding into the intersection. He testified that the brake marks, when read in conjunction with such factors as the damage to the two vehicles and the location of the body, helmet, cycle and oil stains, enabled him to employ the laws of dynamics and physics to reconstruct the accident. It was his expert opinion that the truck proceeded through the stop sign at 23 miles per hour and braked to 13 miles per hour when the motorcycle travelling 25 miles per hour collided with it.

Therefore, the issue before this Court was to determine whether the factual foundation for the expert's opinion testimony was so conjectural and speculative as to constitute error to permit the jury to consider the credibility of such opinion on the issue of liability.¹

Since expert opinion testimony constitutes an exception to the general rule that opinion testimony is inadmissible, its admission should be limited within the bounds of necessity. It is for this reason that the qualification of an expert witness and the limitations imposed on his testimony are left to the sound discretion of the trial judge. Salem v. United States Lines, 370 U.S. 31, 35, 82 S.Ct. 1119, 8 L.Ed.2d 313 (1962); Reagan v. Sinclair Refining Co., 319 F. 2d 363 (5th Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 376 U.S. 956, 84 S.Ct. 975, 11 L.Ed.2d 974 (1964); Harvey's Inc., v. A. C. Electric Co., 207 A.2d 660 (D.C.App.1965). As the Supreme Court said in Salem, "the trial judge has broad discretion in the matter of the admission or exclusion of expert evidence, and his action is to be sustained unless manifestly erroneous." 370 U.S. at 35, 82 S.Ct. at 1122, 8 L.Ed. 2d at 317.

Four conditions must be satisfied before the trial judge, in the exercise of his discretion, may decide as a matter of law that expert opinion testimony may be received at trial. First, the trial judge must be satisfied that the expert has the necessary expertise in the specific area about which he expresses an opinion. This may result from his education, training or experience in his field. Second, the area of inquiry should require an employment of the principles of science, engineering, business or other occupation beyond the ken of the average juror. Third, and crucial to this case, the expert's opinion cannot be based on speculation or conjecture, but must be grounded on evidentiary facts in the record or reasonable inferences arising therefrom. And finally, there must be an apparent need for such expert testimony in order to aid the jury in their resolution of the issue.

The sine qua non of expert opinion testimony is that its basis be grounded in...