Opinion ID: 2674882
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Spiegel

Text: Spiegel is a certified restorer with the National Institute of Disaster Restoration. He is also a certified: (1) master restorer and water, fire and odor control journeyman with the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration; (2) indoor environmentalist and mold remediator with the Indoor Air Quality Association; and (3) Level I thermographer with the Infrared Training Center. Spiegel is also a general and specialty licensed contractor with the state of California and PYRAMID TECH. V. ALLIED PUBLIC ADJUSTERS 11 has 38 years of experience in property damage repair and more than 15 years of experience in construction defect investigation. In two conclusory sentences and without analysis or explanation, the district court held that Spiegel was not a qualified expert “on the scientific, technical, or specialized data on which he purports to opine” and that his opinion regarding relative humidity was not based on sufficient facts or data and was not the product of reliable principles and methods. The district court abused its discretion in reaching these conclusions. Spiegel used weather data from the time of the incident, thermo-hygrometer and infrared data, and ambient condition data to opine on the level of humidity in the warehouse at the time of the flood. As noted, Spiegel is a certified thermographer, certified indoor environmentalist, certified master restorer, certified water control journeyman, and certified mold remediator, with decades of experience. This expertise and experience is relevant to the issues on which Spiegel opined. Because the district court provided no explanation or analysis for rejecting these qualifications, the district court abused its discretion in summarily determining that Spiegel was not qualified as an expert. See Barabin, 740 F.3d at 464 (holding the district court “failed to assume its role as gatekeeper” when it excluded expert testimony for “dubious credentials” without conducting a Daubert hearing or assessing expert’s findings). Spiegel’s many relevant certifications and decades of relevant experience render him qualified to issue his expert opinion. In addition, in preparing his report Spiegel conducted two site visits to Pyramid’s warehouse, interviewed several 12 PYRAMID TECH. V. ALLIED PUBLIC ADJUSTERS Pyramid employees who saw the water intrusion and its immediate aftermath, reviewed ServPro’s ambient condition measurements, and recorded his own ambient data during his visits, including data from a 5:30 a.m. visit designed to compare the difference in indoor and outdoor conditions when the warehouse was closed and locked (as it was during the flood). Spiegel also took digital photographs and electronic thermo-hygrometer readings, performed infrared imaging, reviewed www.weatherunderground.com to determine the weather conditions at a nearby airport at the time of the flood, and reviewed the Helms report. These facts and data constitute a sufficient basis for Spiegel’s expert report. Although not discussed by the district court, Spiegel relies on more facts and data in reaching his expert conclusions than did Hartford’s expert witness. Hartford’s expert Helms spent approximately two hours conducting a visual inspection of the warehouse but did not take any measurements, thermographic readings, infrared images, or other data. Although Helms contacted ServPro for its readings, Helms did not learn the locations from which ServPro obtained its readings, what ServPro did to get its readings, or what kind of detection machine ServPro used. The day after his twohour site visit, Helms completed his report and concluded that based on the humidity levels measured by ServPro, no damage occurred to the components in question. Spiegel also adequately explained his methodology in reaching his opinion. Spiegel described how the data he collected and reviewed helped him determine the conditions of the warehouse at the time of the event and at the time of ServPro’s measurements (which were relied on by Helms to determine that no damage from humidity could have PYRAMID TECH. V. ALLIED PUBLIC ADJUSTERS 13 occurred). Unlike Helms, however, Spiegel took into consideration the fact that the warehouse doors were closed and locked during the flood but open during ServPro’s measurements, and Spiegel calculated and considered the difference between the indoor and outdoor conditions during his 5:30 a.m. visit. Spiegel applied that difference to the weather data at the nearby airport on the night of the incident to extrapolate the indoor conditions on the night of the flood. Spiegel also used the infrared temperature readings of the packages on the shelves in comparison to the air temperature taken during his visit to determine the likely temperature of the packages on the night of the incident. The record shows that the knowledge underlying Spiegel’s report “has a reliable basis in the knowledge and experience of the relevant discipline,” rendering his report reliable. Primiano, 598 F.3d at 565 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The record also shows that Spiegel’s reliance on the nearby airport weather information from www.weatherunderground.com is acceptable in the industry, for Helms testified that he relied on the same data. Spiegel also explained how he applied the data to reach his conclusions and how Helms failed to rely on proper data to reach his conclusion. In short, Spiegel’s principles and methods were reliable and his report is not one of the “unreliable nonsense opinions” that should be screened from use. Alaska Rent-A-Car, 738 F.3d at 969. Thus, the district court abused its discretion in excluding this evidence. Excluding the Spiegel report was both erroneous and prejudicial. Spiegel’s expert report provides evidence that: (1) the Helms report relied on improper data to conclude that no damage was caused by humidity following the flood; (2) during the flood, the humidity exceeded 90% and was 14 PYRAMID TECH. V. ALLIED PUBLIC ADJUSTERS above the dew point; (3) the applicable standards for moisture-proof packaging require a one-year shelf life and humidity below 90% to prevent failure; (4) the vast majority of the parts stored in moisture-proof packaging was well beyond the one-year warranty protection; and (5) the conditions during the flood “without question” put the affected moisture-proof packages outside the packing standards. Thus, as Spiegel opines, the humidity and condensation caused by the flood may have compromised the packaging and possibly the components themselves. This is admissible evidence from which causation and damage reasonably may be inferred. Although Spiegel did not say with certainty that the humidity from the flood caused damage to Pyramid’s inventory, a jury could reasonably infer causation from Spiegel’s report and Pyramid’s other evidence. It is not necessary for Spiegel’s report to establish every element of Pyramid’s claim in order for it to be admissible in evidence. See Primiano, 598 F.3d at 564 (“Reliable expert testimony need only be relevant, and need not establish every element that the plaintiff must prove, in order to be admissible.”) (citation omitted). If Spiegel’s report had been admitted, the district court would have been required to view it in the light most favorable to Pyramid when considering Hartford’s motion for summary judgment. Because the report could assist a trier of fact in inferring that the flood caused sufficiently high humidity to damage Pyramid’s parts and that Helms’ contrary conclusion was not reliable, the exclusion of Spiegel’s report is prejudicial to Pyramid. See Messick v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., No. 13-15433, 2014 WL 1328182, at –5 (9th Cir. Apr. 4, 2014) (reversing grant of summary judgment where expert’s testimony, which would have created a genuine issue PYRAMID TECH. V. ALLIED PUBLIC ADJUSTERS 15 of material fact, was excluded because it was erroneously deemed unreliable and irrelevant).