Opinion ID: 819782
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exclusion of Holcomb’s Testimony

Text: The District Court excluded the remainder of Holcomb’s testimony pursuant to Federal Rules of Evidence 702 and 403.3 “[T]he district court has a ‘gatekeeping’ function under Rule 702—it is 3 Federal Rule of Evidence 702 provides: A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise if: (a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue; (b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data; (c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and (d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case. 4 charged with ‘the task of ensuring that an expert’s testimony both rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand.’” Amorgianos v. Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp., 303 F.3d 256, 265 (2d Cir. 2002) (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 597). The District Court must therefore determine whether “(a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue; (b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data; (c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and (d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.”4 Fed. R. Evid. 702. “A district court’s exclusion of expert testimony is reviewed for abuse of discretion, and a decision to admit or exclude expert scientific testimony is not an abuse of discretion unless it is manifestly erroneous.” Chin v. Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, 685 F.3d 135, 160–61 (2d Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted). Based on a careful and comprehensive review of his testimony and report, the District Court concluded that “Holcomb’s theory of design defect [was] not based on sufficient data and [was] not the product of reliable principles and methods.” Hunt, 857 F. Supp. 2d at 343. Specifically, the District Court found that Holcomb’s theory relied on assumptions not based on evidence and was “unsupported and internally inconsistent.” Id. at 343; see id. at 343–47. Because “his opinions concerning the alleged design defect and causation [were] speculative and not well supported,” they were excluded under Rule 702, and, because their “probative value [was] substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, and misleading the jury,” they were also excluded under Rule 403. Id. at 347. Hunt argues that the District Court “abused its discretion by excluding the opinion evidence of Plaintiff’s expert in its entirety, thereby depriving Plaintiff of his right to have a jury ‘decide among the conflicting views of different experts.’” Appellant Br. 19 (quoting Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 153 (1999)). Hunt does not, however, point to any legal error by the District Court, nor does he identify any factual determination that could be deemed clear error. In short, nothing about the District Federal Rule of Evidence 403 provides: The court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of one or more of the following: unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence. 4 It is worth noting that the District Court operated under a former version of Rule 702, which provided: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case. Fed. R. Evid. 702 (2000). Although the Rule was revised in 2011, the Advisory Committee Note explains: “The language of Rule 702 has been amended as part of the restyling of the Evidence Rules to make them more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. These changes are intended to be stylistic only. There is no intent to change any result in any ruling on evidence admissibility.” Fed. R. Evid. 702 advisory committee’s note. 5 Court’s careful analysis of Holcomb’s theory was “manifestly erroneous,” Chin, 685 F.3d at 161 (internal quotation marks omitted), and its order excluding the expert evidence must therefore be affirmed.