Opinion ID: 2451576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: causation and frye

Text: ¶ 8 Trial judges perform an important gate keeping function when determining the admissibility of evidence. ER 104. Courts must interpret evidence rules mindful of their purpose: that the truth may be ascertained and proceedings justly determined. ER 102. Generally, the admissibility of expert testimony in Washington is governed by ER 702. [1] See also Reese v. Stroh, 128 Wash.2d 300, 305, 907 P.2d 282 (1995). Expert testimony is usually admitted under ER 702 if it will be helpful to the jury in understanding matters outside the competence of ordinary lay persons. Id. at 308, 907 P.2d 282 (citing State v. Ciskie, 110 Wash.2d 263, 279, 751 P.2d 1165 (1988)). Unreliable evidence is not helpful to the jury, and determining whether scientific-seeming evidence is sufficiently reliable to be admissible has vexed courts at least since Frye, and possibly since the fourteenth century when judges first started consulting with scientists. See Lee Loevinger, Science as Evidence, 35 Jurimetrics J. 153, 154 & n. 4 (1995) (citing EDMUND MORGAN, FOREWORD, AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE MODEL CODE OF EVIDENCE 34 (1942)). Nonetheless, novel scientific evidence, especially that still in the experimental stage, continues to present special challenges. See ROBERT H. ARONSON, THE LAW OF EVIDENCE IN WASHINGTON § 702.04[9][a] at 702-29 (4th ed. 2009). ¶ 9 There are two accepted common law approaches for determining the admissibility of novel scientific evidence. The Frye test was established in 1923 by the United States Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit. The Frye court articulated the approach as follows: Just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable stages is difficult to define. Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential force of the principle must be recognized, and while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs. Frye, 54 App. D.C. at 47, 293 F. 1013. Thus, under Frye, the court's role is to determine whether the theory has been generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 306, 907 P.2d 282. ¶ 10 Precisely seven decades later, in Daubert, the United States Supreme Court rejected the Frye general acceptance test because Federal Rule of Evidence 702 does not expressly require general acceptance, and such a requirement is inconsistent with the thrust in the Federal Rules of Evidence's relaxation of the traditional barriers to opinion testimony. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 588, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Under Daubert, the court must determine if the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and can be applied to the facts at hand. Id. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786. These two tests, the Frye test and the Daubert test are often referred to as the general acceptance and reliability tests respectively. See, e.g., David E. Bernstein, Frye, Frye, Again: the Past, Present, and Future of the General Acceptance Test, 41 JURIMETRICS J. 385, 388-89 & n. 31 (2001) (citing CHARLES T. McCORMICK, HANDBOOK OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE, 363 (1954); In re Agent Orange Prod. Liab. Litig., 611 F.Supp. 1223, 1243-48 (E.D.N.Y.1985), aff'd on other grounds, 818 F.2d 187 (2d Cir.1987) (additional citation omitted)). ¶ 11 Washington courts, at least in criminal cases, have long adopted the Frye general acceptance standard. In Copeland, 130 Wash.2d 244, 922 P.2d 1304, we were asked to reject the Frye test in favor of Daubert. Despite the national trend toward Daubert, we declared our continued adherence to the more stringent Frye test. Id. at 251, 922 P.2d 1304; see also ARONSON, supra, at § 702.04.[9][c][ii]. In civil cases, we have neither expressly adopted Frye nor expressly rejected Daubert. In Reese, we concluded that it was unnecessary for the Court of Appeals to have reached the issue of whether Daubert applied in a civil case since the opponent of the testimony did not argue that the theory or the methodology involved... lacks acceptance in the scientific community. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 307, 907 P.2d 282. Since the real challenge was whether the proffered testimony had a proper foundation, we resolved the question presented under ER 702 and 703. Id. at 304, 308-09, 907 P.2d 282. However, since the courts below in Reese considered Frye and Daubert, we reviewed their applicability. [2] Id. at 305-08, 907 P.2d 282; see also generally 5B KARL B. TEGLAND, WASHINGTON PRACTICE: EVIDENCE LAW & PRACTICE § 702.19, at 88 (5th ed. 2007) (For the moment, it seems safe to presume that Frye continues to apply in civil cases until the Washington Supreme Court explicitly says otherwise. (citing Reese )). In the case before us, the parties and lower courts assume that Frye is applicable, and for the purposes of this opinion, we will assume without deciding that Frye is the appropriate test for civil cases. ¶ 12 As we recently summarized, under Frye: The primary goal is to determine whether the evidence offered is based on established scientific methodology. State v. Gore, 143 Wash.2d 288, 302, 21 P.3d 262 (2001). Both the scientific theory underlying the evidence and the technique or methodology used to implement it must be generally accepted in the scientific community for evidence to be admissible under Frye. Id. If there is a significant dispute among qualified scientists in the relevant scientific community, then the evidence may not be admitted, but scientific opinion need not be unanimous. Id. State v. Gregory, 158 Wash.2d 759, 829, 147 P.3d 1201 (2006) (emphasis in original). ¶ 13 Specifically, our courts consider (1) whether the underlying theory is generally accepted in the scientific community and (2) whether there are techniques, experiments, or studies utilizing that theory which are capable of producing reliable results and are generally accepted in the scientific community. State v. Riker, 123 Wash.2d 351, 359, 869 P.2d 43 (1994). Once a methodology is accepted in the scientific community, then application of the science to a particular case is a matter of weight and admissibility under ER 702, which allows qualified expert witnesses to testify if scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact. Gregory, 158 Wash.2d at 829-30, 147 P.3d 1201 (citing ER 702). Only after novel scientific evidence is found admissible under Frye does the court turn to whether it is admissible under ER 702. Cauthron, 120 Wash.2d at 889-90, 846 P.2d 502. ¶ 14 With this background, we examine the disputed evidence and proposed expert testimony in this case. Anderson relied heavily upon the expert opinion of Dr. Khattak, who was prepared to testify within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, as to the cause of Dalton's malformations as being in utero workplace exposure to Julie Anderson while employed with Akzo Nobel. CP at 913. He based this on Dalton's medical records (including the opinion of Dalton's cardiologist that Dalton's significant medical problems may ` very likely ' be as a result of ` significant exposure to organic solvents in utero '); Akzo's Material Safety Data Sheets; and his own experience and training, including the work he himself did that was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). CP at 912-17. The trial court summarized the JAMA article as follows: The study matched 125 women who were exposed to organic solvents at their work places while they were pregnant, with 125 controlsexpectant mothers who were not exposed to organic solventsand then followed these women prospectively. The study found that 13 members of the exposed group gave birth to babies with major malformations, versus only 1 member of the unexposed group. The expected rate of major malformations was 1% to 3%; thus the 10.4% rate (13 out of 125) in the exposed group was considered significant. The major malformations the study found ranged from heart malformations to urinary tract malformations. 13 different major malformations were listed in Table 4 of the study. One was described as a `neuronal migration defect and focal corical dysplasia heterotopias. Because the study stated that 13 of the children born to mothers who had been exposed to organic solvents had major malformations and listed 13 different major malformations, the implication is that only one of the children born to the mothers in the exposed group showed a neuronal migration defect. Dr. Khattak acknowledged at his deposition that PMG is found in at least of 1 out of every 2,500 births, even in populations with no known organic solvent exposures. CP at 785-86 (footnotes omitted) (citing Khattak, supra, at 1106). ¶ 15 Akzo's expert, Dr. Gideon Koren (a coauthor on the JAMA article), was prepared to testify that the JAMA article does not establish the existence of a causal relation between exposure to organic solvents and birth defects. [3] It appears the relevant scientific community has yet to seriously research whether exposure to the specific type of organic solvents present in Akzo's auto paint can cause the specific type of birth defects at issue. Akzo asserts that Dr. Khattak tacitly acknowledged that there was no general consensus on any causal connection when he said that we don't have enough research, you're absolutely right and when he characterized the state of scientific knowledge as evolving. CP at 635, 659. Akzo contends that it is not enough to argue, therefore, that expert opinion testimony is admissible solely because it is based on accepted scientific techniques. Not only the technique used to accumulate scientific data or information, but also the theory of causation arrived at, must be `generally accepted' in the scientific community. Resp'ts' Br. at 21-22. The trial court agreed that under Washington common law there must be consensus of scientific opinion on the issue of specific causation and granted the motion in limine excluding Dr. Khattak's testimony. We disagree. ¶ 16 This court has never considered whether, as a threshold matter, there must be scientific consensus that a specific type of exposure causes a specific type of injury before expert testimony is admissible under Frye. The trial court relied heavily upon, and likely felt bound by, two Court of Appeals cases, Grant v. Boccia, 133 Wash.App. 176, 137 P.3d 20 (2006), and Ruff v. Dep't of Labor & Indus., 107 Wash.App. 289, 28 P.3d 1 (2001). In Grant, the Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's decision under Frye to exclude an expert who would have testified that the plaintiff's condition was caused by an automobile accident. Grant, 133 Wash.App. at 181-82, 137 P.3d 20. The court concluded that the relevant scientific community was divided on the causal relationship between trauma and fibromyalgia. Id. at 181-83, 137 P.3d 20. In Ruff, based upon largely normal test results that, in their view, excluded alternative diagnoses, several experts opined that Ruff suffered from porphyria resulting from workplace exposures to chemicals. Ruff, 107 Wash.App. at 293-94, 302, 28 P.3d 1. Additionally, one expert had relied upon a blood enzyme test whose efficacy had not been substantiated by control group testing or peer review. Id. at 302, 28 P.3d 1. The Court of Appeals held the experts' testimony did not satisfy Frye 's clear requirement of acceptance in the relevant scientific community. Id. ¶ 17 Again, the trial court, in its gate keeping role, must decide if evidence is admissible. ER 102; ER 104(a). To satisfy the pursuit of truth, evidence must meet certain criteria. Evidence must be probative, relevant, and meet the appropriate standard of probability. ER 102; ER 401; ER 402; ER 403; see, e.g., State v. Riker, 123 Wash.2d 351, 359, 869 P.2d 43 (1994). Expert testimony, in addition, must be helpful. ER 702. Evidentiary rules provide significant protection against unreliable, untested, or junk science. 5B TEGLAND, supra, § 702.18, at 81. The Frye test is an additional tool used by judges when proffered evidence is based upon novel theories and novel techniques or methods. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 306, 907 P.2d 282. In our courts, scientific evidence must satisfy the Frye requirement that the theory and technique or methodology relied upon are generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. State v. Martin, 101 Wash.2d 713, 719, 684 P.2d 651 (1984). Having satisfied Frye, the evidence must still meet the other significant standards of admissibility. For example, persons performing experiments and interpreting results must be qualified. ER 702 and ER 703 mandate the evidence must be relevant and helpful. [4] Expert medical testimony must meet the standard of reasonable medical certainty or reasonable medical probability. See, e.g., Ritzschke v. Dep't of Labor & Indus., 76 Wash.2d 29, 30, 454 P.2d 850 (1969); O'Donoghue v. Riggs, 73 Wash.2d 814, 822-23, 440 P.2d 823 (1968); see also RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TORTS: LIABILITY OF PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HARM § 28 cmt. c(5); BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1380 (9th ed. 2009) (noting that reasonable medical probability and reasonable medical certainty are used interchangeably). Finally, evidence is tested by the adversarial process within the crucible of cross-examination, and adverse parties are permitted to present other challenging evidence. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596, 113 S.Ct. 2786 (Vigorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence. (citing Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44, 61, 107 S.Ct. 2704, 97 L.Ed.2d 37 (1987))). ¶ 18 Frye envisioned an evolutionary process with novel scientific techniques passing through an experimental stage during which they would be scrutinized by the scientific community until they arrive at a demonstrable stage. Frye, 54 App. D.C. at 47, 293 F. 1013. However, science never stops evolving and the process is unending. Each scientific inquiry becomes more detailed and nuanced. As one commentator has noted, there is a difference between the quest for truth in the courtroom and in the laboratory. Law must resolve disputes finally and quickly, whereas science may consider a multitude of hypotheses indefinitely. Loevinger, supra, at 153, 177. ¶ 19 Further, scientific standards and legal standards do not always fit neatly together. [5] Generally, the degree of certainty required for general acceptance in the scientific community is much higher than the concept of probability used in civil courts. While the standard of persuasion in criminal cases is beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard in most civil cases is a mere preponderance. Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S. 1, 5, 114 S.Ct. 1239, 127 L.Ed.2d 583 (1994) (citing In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970)); 14A KARL B. TEGLAND, WASHINGTON PRACTICE: CIVIL PROCEDURE § 30.13, at 228 (2d ed. 2009). In order to establish a causal connection in most civil matters, the standard of confidence required is a preponderance, or more likely than not, or more than 50 percent. See Lloyd L. Wiehl, Our Burden of Burdens, 41 WASH. L. REV. 109, 110 & n. 4 (The Washington court has reduced the burden to the probability factor.). By contrast, [f]or a scientific finding to be accepted, it is customary to require a 95 percent probability that it is not due to chance alone. MARCIA ANGELL, M.D., SCIENCE ON TRIAL: THE CLASH OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE AND THE LAW IN THE BREAST IMPLANT CASE 114 (1996). The difference in degree of confidence to satisfy the Frye general acceptance standard and the substantially lower standard of preponderance required for admissibility in civil matters has been referred to as comparing apples to oranges. Id. To require the exacting level of scientific certainty to support opinions on causation would, in effect, change the standard for opinion testimony in civil cases. See Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 310, 312, 907 P.2d 282 (C. Johnson, concurring). [6] ¶ 20 This court has consistently found that if the science and methods are widely accepted in the relevant scientific community, the evidence is admissible under Frye, without separately requiring widespread acceptance of the plaintiff's theory of causation. See, e.g., Gregory, 158 Wash.2d at 829, 147 P.3d 1201; Copeland, 130 Wash.2d at 255, 922 P.2d 1304; Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 309, 907 P.2d 282; Cauthron, 120 Wash.2d at 887, 846 P.2d 502. Of course the evidence must also meet the other evidentiary requirements of competency, relevancy, reliability, helpfulness, and probability. As this court observed in Reese: We do not find that lack of statistical support fatal to Dr. Fallat's causation opinion. Such support is required neither by ER 702, ER 703, nor by our case law. Rather, medical expert testimony must be based upon a reasonable degree of medical certainty. McLaughlin [ v. Cooke ], 112 Wash.2d [829] at 836, 774 P.2d 1171 [(1989) ](citing State v. Crenshaw, 98 Wash.2d 789, 802 n. 2, 659 P.2d 488 (1983)); see also 5A TEGLAND, § 291 at 396. Evidence establishing proximate cause in medical malpractice cases must rise above speculation, conjecture, or mere possibility. See McLaughlin, 112 Wash.2d at 837, 774 P.2d 1171; see also Coffman v. McFadden, 68 Wash.2d 954, 961, 416 P.2d 99 (1966). We agree with the Court of Appeals that Dr. Fallat's proposed testimony, based on the information known to the medical profession at the time of Plaintiff's treatment, is the type of information jurors and their physicians rely on in their everyday lives to make decisions about health care. There is nothing mystical about it, and jurors are perfectly capable of determining what weight to give this kind of expert testimony. Reese, 74 Wash.App. at 565, 874 P.2d 200. A jury can certainly evaluate the foundation for Dr. Fallat's opinion that the failure to prescribe Prolastin therapy caused a preventable worsening of the Plaintiff's condition. Furthermore, the jury can evaluate the Defendant's reasons for failing to apply Prolastin as well as the lack of substantial statistical support concerning the therapy's efficacy. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 309, 907 P.2d 282. The absence of a statistically significant basis for the expert's opinion that the plaintiff would have benefited from the Prolastin therapy neither implicated Frye nor rendered the proffered testimony inadmissible. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 305, 307, 907 P.2d 282. Many expert medical opinions are pure opinions and are based on experience and training rather than scientific data. We only require that medical expert testimony ... be based upon `a reasonable degree of medical certainty' or probability. McLaughlin v. Cooke, 112 Wash.2d 829, 836, 774 P.2d 1171 (1989) (citing State v. Crenshaw, 98 Wash.2d 789, 802 n. 2, 659 P.2d 488 (1983)); see also 5B Tegland, supra, at 122-23; Black's Law Dictionary 1380 (9th ed. 2009). Many medical opinions on causation are based upon differential diagnoses. A physician or other qualified expert may base a conclusion about causation through a process of ruling out potential causes with due consideration to temporal factors, such as events and the onset of symptoms. E.g. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 307, 309, 907 P.2d 282; Marsh v. Valyou, 977 So.2d 543, 548 (Fla.2007). [7] ¶ 21 In the case before us, the plaintiff presented evidence that tended to show it is generally accepted by the scientific community that toxic solvents like the ones to which Anderson was exposed are fat soluble, pass easily through the placenta and dissolve into the amniotic fluid inside the uterus, and may damage the developing brain of a fetus within the uterus. [8] Anderson contends that Dalton suffers from a malformation/encephalopathy referred to as a neuronal migration disorder caused by in utero organic solvent exposure, among other things. Akzo's expert concluded that Dalton did not have a neuronal migration defect, but instead has a birth defect known as polymicrogyria (also known as PMG). [9] CP at 895. According to Akzo's evermore nuanced argument, to satisfy Frye, Anderson must establish that the specific causal connection between the specific toxic organic solvents to which she was exposed and the specific polymicrogyria birth defect is generally accepted in the scientific community. If we were to accept Akzo's argument and require general acceptance of each discrete and evermore specific part of an expert opinion, virtually all opinions based upon scientific data could be argued to be within some part of the scientific twilight zone. ¶ 22 The Frye test is only implicated where the opinion offered is based upon novel science. Reese, 128 Wash.2d at 306, 907 P.2d 282. It applies where either the theory and technique or method of arriving at the data relied upon is so novel that it is not generally accepted by the relevant scientific community. There is nothing novel about the theory that organic solvent exposure may cause brain damage and encephalopathy. See, e.g., Berry v. CSX Transp., Inc., 709 So.2d 552, 568 & n. 12, 571-72 (Fla.Dist. Ct.App.1998) (surveying medical literature). Nor does it appear that there is anything novel about the methods of the study about which Dr. Khattak wrote. Khattak, supra, at 1106. Frye does not require that the specific conclusions drawn from the scientific data upon which Dr. Khattak relied be generally accepted in the scientific community. Frye does not require every deduction drawn from generally accepted theories to be generally accepted. Other evidentiary requirements provide additional protections from deductions that are mere speculation. E.g., ER 104(a); ER 401; ER 403. Because Dr. Khattak's testimony was not based upon novel science, Frye was not implicated in this case. Other evidentiary standards properly balance the parties' right to advance their theories of the case. To the extent that the Court of Appeals opinions in Grant, 133 Wash.App. 176, 137 P.3d 20, and Ruff, 107 Wash.App. 289, 28 P.3d 1, are inconsistent with this opinion, they are overruled. [10]