Opinion ID: 1168165
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Incorrect Factual Assumption

Text: An expert opinion based on an incorrect factual assumption may be rejected if the factual assumption was material, but not every error in fact renders the opinion fatally flawed. [1] Desert Insulations, on which the court of appeals relied, illustrates the difference. In Desert Insulations, the doctor testifying for the claimant on the question of impairment of earning capacity explicitly testified that he based his opinion on the fact that the claimant could not return to work. 134 Ariz. at 151, 654 P.2d at 299. He stated that [i]f you could prove ... to me [that the claimant had returned to work], I'm willing to change my opinion today. Id. The claimant in Desert Insulations, however, had returned to work. Thus, the court correctly found the foundation for the doctor's testimony inadequate; the fact in question was highly material to the testimony. Desert Insulations, however, differs from the present case in several respects. First, the record does not support the court of appeals' finding that Dr. Dishner placed great significance on the fact that claimant had not worn a mask while working. Fry's, memo. decision at 11. Rather, Dr. Dishner stated that he based his opinion on several aspects of claimant's history: He gave me a history of approximately seven to eight years of exposure, working in a  in the cleanup area, maintenance, cleaning up the bakery room in which he had significant exposure associated with brooming the room out and cleaning the room out. He related no use of the mask or any sort of protective mechanisms to protect himself from inhaling and did have a year to year and a half hiatus in his seven years, toward the end of it, which he showed some improvement, but upon returning back to the flour, and for approximately one to one and a half years, he started developing worse and worsening symptoms as far as his breathing. RT, June 16, 1987, at 13-14. Thus, the fact that Dr. Dishner testified that claimant wore no mask was only one part of the history he took and was mentioned only one time. Neither party asked a follow-up question and the record is silent on the significance, if any, that Dr. Dishner attached to this factor. In addition, claimant himself testified that he thought he told Dr. Dishner that he wore a mask. RT, March 6, 1987, at 17. Thus, the record permits the inference that Dr. Dishner may have actually known that claimant wore a mask and merely misstated the fact when relating the basis of his opinion that claimant had baker's lung. This evidence did not require the ALJ to conclude that whether claimant wore a mask was an incorrect and material predicate of Dr. Dishner's opinion testimony. Finally, even if Dr. Dishner had erroneously assumed that claimant wore no mask, there is support for the conclusion that the mask issue was irrelevant. Dr. Serbin testified that when a mask becomes wet with the wearer's breath, it becomes completely porous and only impedes inhalation of gross particles that irritate the upper airways and that the mask would not prevent anything else. RT, June 24, 1987, at 14. The mask would have been useless as far as protection against pneumoconiosis. See id. This testimony reflected the key dispute in the case  the nature of the underlying disease. Thus, even assuming that Dr. Dishner partially based his testimony on the incorrect assumption that claimant wore no mask, the ALJ could have concluded that Dr. Dishner's possibly mistaken belief that claimant wore no mask would have been an immaterial error of fact. The court of appeals believed, however, that the factfinder could not take testimony from one expert to cure a foundational problem in the testimony of another. Fry's, memo. decision at 11. We disagree. Nothing prevented the ALJ from accepting Dr. Serbin's testimony on the value of the mask but rejecting his testimony and ultimate conclusion on claimant's condition. Nothing binds the factfinder to accept or reject an expert's entire opinion. See State v. Bishop, No. CR-87-0236-AP, slip op. at 10 (Ariz.Sup.Ct. July 3, 1989); State v. Zmich, 160 Ariz. 108, 111, 770 P.2d 776, 779 (1989); State v. Bay, 150 Ariz. 112, 116, 722 P.2d 280, 284 (1986); State v. Cano, 103 Ariz. 37, 41, 436 P.2d 586, 590 (1968) (expert testimony is merely evidence the trier of fact considers and weighs). What is true in whole is also true in part; the trier may accept part of the testimony of a witness and reject other parts. M. UDALL & J. LIVERMORE, ARIZONA PRACTICE: THE LAW OF EVIDENCE § 41, at 66 (2d ed. 1982). A factfinder is free to put together parts of expert testimony in a reasonable manner. Buttery v. International Paper, 47 A.D.2d 687, 688, 364 N.Y.S.2d 240, 241 (1975); Burkan Oil Co. v. Notley, 488 P.2d 1277, 1279 (Okl. 1971); Cassidy v. Harding, 451 P.2d 698, 699 (Okl. 1969) (award may be based in part on claimant's medical evidence and, in part, on respondent's).