Rising-Moore v. Red Roof Inns, Inc., 1:03CV0707SEBJPG.
| Decision Date | 30 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:03CV0707SEBJPG.,1:03CV0707SEBJPG. |
| Citation | 368 F.Supp.2d 867 |
| Parties | John R. RISING-MOORE, Plaintiff, v. RED ROOF INNS, INC. Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana |
Gary P. Price, Lewis & Kappes, P.C., Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff.
Harold Abrahamson, Abrahamson & Reed, Hammond.
ENTRY GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MOTION TO STRIKE EXPERT REPORT OF WILLIAM DICKINSON, P.E. UNDER DAUBERT AND RULE 702 F.R.E.
This matter is before the Court on a Motion for Summary Judgment and a Motion to Strike the Report of William Dickinson, P.E., both of which motions were filed by Defendant, Red Roof Inns, Inc. For the reasons set forth in this entry, both motions are GRANTED.
Late on the night of March 26, 2002, as Plaintiff, John R. Rising-Moore (hereinafter, "Rising-Moore"), began his long drive home to Spencer, Indiana from his office in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis, Indiana, a misty rain began to fall. The temperature was cold and weather reports predicted that conditions south of Indianapolis would get bad. Rising-Moore noticed that the moisture on his windshield wipers was beginning to freeze and thus he decided to spend the night at the Red Roof Inn in Speedway, Indiana, where he stays one to two nights per month, given the distance between his work and home. Rising-Moore arrived at the Red Roof Inn around midnight by which time the weather had begun to turn icy. Rising-Moore parked his truck in front of the motel entrance and entered using a ramp that leads up to the front door. In his deposition, Rising-Moore stated that he did not recall having any difficulty ascending the ramp, which is consistent with prior statements he had made to Defendant's security guard and insurance representative that, at the time he entered the office, the ramp "wasn't real slick or anything." Rising-Moore remained inside the reception area of the motel for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes, according to his estimate, while he reserved a room.
Rising-Moore then exited the motel to return to his truck, whereupon he slipped and fell on the entryway ramp, hitting his head and incurring other injuries. The ramp is uncovered, with an incline of less than a foot between the parking lot and the sidewalk and measures six feet, eight inches in width and eight feet in length. Rising-Moore stated to Defendant's insurance representative that, after he regained consciousness, he noticed the "conditions had changed dramatically, and everything was just a sheet of ice." Rising-Moore reported that the ice had accumulated during the fifteen to twenty minutes he had been inside the main office of the motel. Robby Harris, a Red Roof Inn security guard and off-duty police officer who had been in the vicinity when Rising-Moore first entered the office, testified that Rising-Moore had been inside for only approximately five to ten minutes before exiting. After Rising-Moore fell, Harris came to his assistance, helping him to his feet and offering to take further steps to insure he received proper medical attention. Harris also retrieved from the motel office some ice melting salt and dispersed it along the sidewalks adjoining the property.
In his complaint, Rising-Moore alleges that he suffered serious and permanent injuries including, but not limited to, a closed head wound and related neurological impairment. He seeks compensation for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and other losses, claiming that his injuries were proximately caused by Defendant Red Roof Inn's failure to exercise ordinary and reasonable care to protect its patrons from dangerous conditions about which it had knowledge, or should have had knowledge through the exercise of ordinary and reasonable care.
Defendant has filed this Motion for Summary Judgment. As part of his response to the Motion for Summary Judgment, Rising-Moore proffered an expert report from William Dickinson, P.E., which purports to establish that the ramp had latent physical characteristics which rendered it unreasonably dangerous when icy or wet. The "Dickinson Report" concludes that the ramp where Rising-Moore fell was too steep and that the presence of debris, such as ice, reduced its effective friction coefficient to a hazardous level, thereby creating a dangerous environment for pedestrians. Defendant has filed a Motion to Strike the Report of Mr. Dickinson.
Before we reach the merits of Defendant's dispositive motion, we must determine whether the "expert report" of William Dickinson, P.E., as tendered by Plaintiff, is admissible evidence. For the reasons explained below, we conclude that it is not.
In the seminal holding of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 592, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)1, the United States Supreme Court established the now familiar rule (later enacted as F.R.E. 702) that requires the trial court, in passing on the admissibility of expert testimony, to determine its relevancy and reliability in the context of scientific evidence on the basis of: (1) whether the subject of the expert's testimony involves "scientific knowledge" and (2) whether the scientific knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand and/or determine a fact in issue. In order to qualify as scientific knowledge, the expert opinion or conclusion must be derived from the scientific method. Id. The "scientific knowledge" prong of the Daubert analysis is intended to ensure the scientific reliability of the evidence. According to Supreme Court precedents, an expert's opinion must consist of more than "subjective belief or unsupported speculation." Id. at 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786. In applying Daubert standards, the Seventh Circuit has directed that a "district judge should assure (herself), before admitting expert testimony, that the expert knows whereof he speaks." Bammerlin v. Navistar Internat'l Transp. Corp., 30 F.3d 898, 901 (7th Cir.1994). While recognizing that the "scientific knowledge" test is a flexible one, lower courts examine such factors as whether the method used to arrive at a particular conclusion has been tested, whether it has been subjected to peer review and publication, what the method's potential rate of error is, and whether the knowledge is "generally accepted." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 593-94, 113 S.Ct. 2786. The "Dickinson Report" advances essentially two conclusions: (1) Defendant's ramp was unsafe because it was too steep and did not have handrails, and (2) Defendant's ramp was unsafe when icy or wet. We analyze the methodologies and reasoning behind each of these conclusions.2
(1) Ramp Too Steep and Lacking Handrails
In concluding that the ramp at issue was too steep and should have had handrails, Dickinson drew upon standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute for making buildings and facilities accessible to handicapped individuals, ANSI A117.1. According to Dickinson, these standards have been adopted in the Indiana Uniform Building Code ("UBC"). Defendant claims that these standards are irrelevant because the ramp at issue was not part of the handicapped accessibility route for the motel.3
That the ramp at issue lacked handrails is undisputed. Neither does Defendant quarrel with the slope measurements taken by Dickinson indicating that the average slope of the ramp was 6.7 degrees. What Defendant does dispute is that it intended that ramp to serve as its handicapped access ramp, offering the affidavit of its own expert to explain that an adjacent compliant ramp on the property serves the purpose of providing handicapped accessibility and links up with the individual parking spaces in the parking lot. This all seems beside the point, however, because Rising-Moore had parked his truck in front of the entrance, not even in a parking space, and was neither disabled nor confined to a wheelchair; in fact, he does not actually contend that the slope of the ramp contributed in any manner to his fall. In addition, Defendant's expert notes that there are standards in the UBC for ramps not intended to serve as access for handicapped patrons and that the ramp at issue complies with the slope requirements of that section. In short, the standards applied by Dickinson and his findings are irrelevant. Consequently, even if his report were scientifically reliable, it's admissibility would founder for lack of relevance. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
(2) Ramp Lacked Slip Resistance
Dickinson's second expert conclusion is that Defendant's ramp was unsafe when icy or wet. He reaches this conclusion from tests he conducted two years after the incident at issue wherein he attempted to determine the effective friction coefficient between the surface of the ramp and samples of materials commonly used for the souls of shoes. Dickinson's tests, however, did not incorporate reliable scientific methodology and his conclusions are simply too speculative to be admitted to assist a trier of fact in understanding any fact at issue.
Dickinson first tested the friction coefficient between a leather sole and the dry surfaces of the ramps. Then he tested the friction coefficient between a Neolite™ (rubber) sample and the dry surfaces of the ramps. Next, he sprayed the ramps with a mist of tap-water and retested the friction coefficient between the Neolite™ sample and the ramps' surfaces. After calculating a 15% decrease in friction coefficients, he calculated a correlative reduction in the friction coefficient of the leather samples on the dry ramp surfaces and concluded that the friction coefficient for the leather sample on the wet ramp surfaces was unsafe.
There are several obvious problems with Dickinson's methodology and conclusions. First, by Dickinson's own admission, "[t]here are no standards written to associate the safety of a walking surface with the results of coefficient of...
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