Opinion ID: 1177210
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Foundantion

Text: Pursuant to Evidence Rule 705(a), [3] the court exercised its discretion to order Freeman to state the facts or data underlying his opinion as to Tauriainen's negligence in advance on voir dire. Freeman indicated that his opinion was based solely on the deposition of Tauriainen. Wilson and Cooper discovered during later examination of Freeman that his opinion that Tauriainen was not negligent was based on information not contained in the Tauriainen deposition. Specifically, they claim that his opinion was based on four assumptions not supported by the proffered foundation: (1) that Tauriainen did not enter the Fuller compressor room during the inspection; (2) that Mr. Sparkman, an ARCO employee, had given the platform a clean bill of health; (3) that Mr. Olson, a federal OSHA inspector who inspected the platform after the accident, stated in a deposition that he was not aware of purging systems on other platforms; and (4) that a task force inspection had not uncovered the specific violation in question. Wilson and Cooper claim that Freeman's testimony as to Tauriainen's negligence thus lacked an adequate foundation. The problem with this assertion is that appellants do not point to any erroneous ruling made by the trial court. Once Freeman varied his testimony by expanding the basis on which he rested his opinion the court might have stricken his testimony, or taken some other remedial step. However, no request for any such action was made. Instead counsel relied on cross-examination, which was both free-ranging and extensive, to demonstrate the weaknesses of Freeman's position. No judicial action, or inaction, is presented here which may be reviewed.