Opinion ID: 202529
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Safety Expert's Testimony

Text: 30 Pelletier describes two different types of testimony by Richard Twomey, his safety expert, that he argues were improperly excluded. First, he asserts that Twomey should have been permitted to testify about the applicability of OSHA regulations to Main Street's conduct. Second, he claims that Twomey should have been permitted to testify about industry customs and practices of safety. 31 As to testimony about the OSHA regulations, the general rule is that it is the judge's role, not a witness's, to instruct the jury on the law. See Nieves-Villanueva v. Soto-Rivera, 133 F.3d 92, 99 (1st Cir.1997). A district court has broad discretion to exclude expert opinion evidence about the law that would impinge on the roles of the judge and the jury. See N. Heel Corp. v. Compo Indus., Inc., 851 F.2d 456, 468 (1st Cir.1988). For this reason, and to avoid jury confusion, the district court in this case acted well within its discretion in excluding expert testimony about the applicability of OSHA regulations to Main Street. 32 Pelletier cites cases in which experts were permitted to testify about the law applicable to the case. In general, it can be within the district court's discretion to admit or exclude particular expert testimony, such that neither judgment will be reversed on appeal. See Univ. of R.I. v. A.W. Chesterton Co., 2 F.3d 1200, 1218 (1st Cir.1993). More importantly, the cases Pelletier cites are inapposite because they involve situations in which the proper interpretation of the law is itself a factual issue in the case, as when the defendant claims that his interpretation of the law was reasonable, even if incorrect. See, e.g., United States v. Garber, 607 F.2d 92, 96-98 (5th Cir.1979) (en banc) (reversing the exclusion of expert testimony to show that defendant reasonably believed no tax was due); see also Gomez v. Rivera Rodriguez, 344 F.3d 103, 115, 119 (1st Cir.2003) (reversing the exclusion of testimony about legal advice given to the defendant to show the defendant's motivation for terminating plaintiffs' employment). In this case, Pelletier offered the expert testimony to show what the regulations meant, not to show what he thought they meant, and thus cases like Garber have no application here. 33 The most difficult issue in this case is the limitation of the testimony purportedly proffered as to industry custom and practice. Pelletier is correct that in general, the customs and practices of an industry are proper subjects for expert testimony. See Levin v. Dalva Bros., 459 F.3d 68, 79 (1st Cir.2006). Pelletier is also correct that under Federal Rule of Evidence 703, an expert may base his opinion on trial testimony or on information conveyed to him prior to trial. See Almonte v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co., 787 F.2d 763, 770 (1st Cir.1986). Thus, the fact that Twomey had never visited the Old Mill, as the district court noted, would not alone be reason to exclude his testimony about customs and practices. 34 The Federal Rules of Evidence, however, do not afford automatic entitlements to proponents of expert testimony. Univ. of R.I., 2 F.3d at 1218. At trial, Pelletier's counsel proffered Twomey's testimony as to safety practices at Main Street and on the unsafe practices that he saw going on there. The district court appears to have excluded the testimony not because Twomey lacked personal knowledge per se, but because in the absence of a personal inspection of the facilities or equipment at issue, Twomey would have had insufficient information on which to base his opinion. See Fed.R.Evid. 702 (requiring that expert testimony be based upon sufficient facts or data). 35 The district court's concern about the basis and content of Twomey's testimony was warranted, particularly given that Pelletier never clearly stated what customs and practices Twomey would testify to. Pelletier failed to make any more specific offer of proof. See Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)(2); see also Harrison v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 981 F.2d 25, 30 (1st Cir.1992). Twomey's report gave little indication that his opinion was based on general industry customs and practices, focusing instead on Main Street's safety policies and numerous regulations, codes, and standards. As the district court noted, it gave Pelletier several different opportunities to explain why Twomey's testimony was admissible. Given the shifting explanations and the broad articulation of the proffer, there was some reason to suspect that the customs and practices referred to were merely the OSHA regulations, without referring to them as such. We are unable to say that the district court abused its wide discretion in refusing to allow Twomey's testimony as proffered. 36 In any event, if there was any error here, it did not affect Pelletier's substantial rights. Because Twomey had no personal knowledge about conditions at the old mill, his testimony on customs and practices could only have gone toward establishing the standard of care. The court did allow testimony about the appropriate standard of care, and the evidence admitted, in the form of applicable regulations and Main Street's safety policies and past practices, was more than sufficient to establish the standard of care. Pelletier makes no argument that the proffered evidence of custom and practice would have established a higher standard of care than that established by the remaining evidence. 37 The focus of the trial was not on the standard of care, but rather on whether responsibility lay with Three D Rigging and Pelletier himself. As the district court noted, the evidence tended to show that Main Street did not control the means or method of work of [Three D Rigging] or its employees, and that a large oil spill on the floor . . . was an open and obvious danger. Thus, the proffered testimony about industry practices was largely immaterial.