Wright v. Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 13755,13755 |
| Citation | 720 P.2d 696,102 Nev. 261 |
| Parties | Isabell WRIGHT, Appellant, v. LAS VEGAS HACIENDA, INC., a Nevada corporation, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
This is an appeal from a judgment pursuant to a jury verdict in a personal injury action, and from an order of the district court denying appellant's motion for a new trial. Because we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in excluding the testimony of appellant's expert at trial, we reverse.
Appellant injured her ankle when she tripped and fell on respondent's stairway. The stair on which appellant tripped was the last stair before the first landing of the stairway. It had a metal strip across its tip that was raised about one eighth of an inch. None of the other stairs had a metal strip.
During the course of the trial, appellant attempted to call Dr. Charles Rasmussen, Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, as an expert in the field of human factors engineering. Dr. Rasmussen would have testified that the metal strip on the final stair created a dangerous condition which may have caused appellant's fall because of the psychological effects of variations in the height and materials of the stairway. The district court excluded the testimony.
At trial, the sole reason given by the district court for the exclusion of Dr. Rasmussen's testimony was that Dr. Rasmussen was unqualified to testify in the field of human factors engineering because he did not possess the requisite academic credentials. In response to appellant's motion for a new trial, the district court added that Dr. Rasmussen was not licensed as a psychologist or as an engineer. The district court concluded that Dr. Rasmussen was therefore unqualified to testify, because Dr. Rasmussen would thereby engage in the unlicensed practice of psychology or engineering. See NRS 641.025; NRS 625.050. The court also concluded that Dr. Rasmussen's testimony would have been cumulative because respondent's expert had testified concerning the "psychological factors of descending stairs where there is a variation in the height and material." Appellant contends that the district court's refusal to allow Dr. Rasmussen to testify as an expert in the field of human factors engineering was error. We agree.
The admission of expert testimony is a matter generally left to the discretion of the district court. See Provence v. Cunningham, 95 Nev. 4, 7, 588 P.2d 1020, 1021 (1979). However, this court will not hesitate to intervene if that discretion is manifestly abused. Id.
The record reveals that Dr. Rasmussen was the Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and had been with the department for nine years. Dr. Rasmussen's academic background included a bachelor's degree in psychology, and a Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis on experimental psychology. His doctorate minor was in systems engineering with an emphasis...
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