Opinion ID: 807056
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reliability of the Failure Analyses

Text: “In a case involving scientific evidence, evidentiary reliability will be based upon scientific validity.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590 n.9. Relevant questions may include whether a technique or theory is generally accepted in the technical or scientific community, if it “can be or has been tested,” and the potential influence of the rate of error. Pipitone v. Biomatrix, Inc., 288 F.3d 239, 244 (5th Cir. 2002). The sine qua non, however, is whether in his courtroom presentation the expert used “the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an 7 No. 10-31271 expert in the relevant field.” Valencia, 600 F.3d at 424 (quoting Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152 (1999)). Western claims that scientific principles did not underlie Vandervort’s methods. This is incorrect. Vandervort connected a pressure release valve to a device that stores and releases energy: an accumulator. The accumulator stood in for the pump, but allowed for experimentation. Different levels of pressure could be replicated over different time intervals. First came quasi-static testing, which measured baseline characteristics of the Predator Pump. Under a “relatively slow pressurization event” the valve functioned normally, expelling the ball at approximately 900 psi. During the quasi-static test, the Cam-Lok ruptured at 2,007 psi. Next came the dynamic test. It was exactly the same, except that rather than apply it slowly, pressure was introduced in two-thousandths of a second. Vandervort hypothesized before the test that “under a rapid pressure event that ball might be bypassed and the fitting would fail before the ball released.” To control how much pressure was introduced, Vandervort used a disc that is manufactured by a specialized vendor to rupture at a given pressure, here 2,500 psi. During the dynamic test the ball began to extrude from its brass cap, but did not escape, leading the Cam-Lok to break as predicted, as its pins gave way. The company makes much of the fact that Vandervort stated that no textbook lays out these testing protocols. Vandervort explained that the processes cannot be found in a text or manual, because what we did is we took engineering principles, we took experience, and we put together a plan to learn about these components. Now, did we violate the principles and the understanding and the basics of physics in that process? Not at all. We applied our engineering knowledge to create a testing scenario. The district court made a specific finding that the principles behind both the dynamic and quasi-static failure analyses were generally “accepted in the engineering community.” See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 594. The absence of textual 8 No. 10-31271 support or published studies is not dispositive when reliable methods are used. See Knight v. Kirby Inland Marine Inc., 482 F.3d 347, 354 (5th Cir. 2007). Furthermore, the “district court has wide discretion to admit evidence of experiments conducted under substantially similar conditions.” United States v. Norris, 217 F.3d 262, 270 (5th Cir. 2000) (quoting Barnes v. Gen. Motors Corp., 547 F.2d 275, 277 (5th Cir. 1977)). Here, the experiments reconstructed the exact design of the Predator Pump. In fact, it is uncontroverted that the pressure release valve, ball, and Cam-Lok were identical to the ones in the pump used by Roman. Each item was supplied directly from Western or its suppliers and the functioning of the system was not modified.