Opinion ID: 2994396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Expert

Text: The plaintiffs’ proposed expert, Daniel Pacheco, is a mechanical engineer with experience investigating lift truck accidents. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1964, and his M.S. degree in management from the Graduate School of Management in Lake Forest, Illinois, in 1974. Additionally, Pacheco has been a registered Professional Engineer in Illinois since 1970, and was employed for seventeen years as an engineer for Fiat-Allis Construction Machinery Inc. of Deerfield, Illinois, and Pettibone Corporation of Chicago, Illinois, working on the product design and the development of heavy vehicles and forklift trucks. In 1982, Pacheco became a senior engineering consultant for Polytechnic, Inc. of Lincolnwood, Illinois. In 1989, Pacheco became president of Polytechnic, Inc., and now specializes in the safety analysis of construction and industrial equipment./5 Wishing to use Pacheco’s expertise in their suit, Wendling and Bourelle retained Pacheco, in November 1998, as an expert witness to perform an engineering investigation, and prepare a report, concerning their two accidents./6 The trial judge described Pacheco’s investigation as consisting of: reading the depositions of the plaintiffs and ten other people who had knowledge relevant to the occurrences that are the subject of the suit. Mr. Pacheco also reviewed Crown Equipment Corporation manufacturing and service documents for the TSP, Crown sales brochures, a training manual and engineering drawings for the TSP. On the basis of this investigation, Pacheco opined that the TSP was defective both because it was designed with inadequate guarding and because it lacked an adequate warning regarding the risk of pallets becoming dislodged and entering the operator’s compartment./7 Specifically, Pacheco stated that the wire mesh guarding, covering the area between the lower bar and the bottom of the operator’s compartment, could be (and should have been) extended up to the mid-bar, and that such guarding would have prevented Bourelle’s injury. Pacheco also opined that the same type of structure as utilized in the overhead guard could be placed in front of the operator’s compartment on top of the midrail, and that such guarding would have prevented Wendling’s injury. In short, Pacheco would, as Wendling and Bourelle explain in their brief, extend the already existing guarding. The district court found that although Pacheco was qualified to testify as an expert witness, his testimony was unreliable under Fed. R. Evid. 702 because [h]is opinion as to guarding has not been tested nor has any attempt been made to prove its feasibility. He did not prepare engineering drawings of his proposed design and undertook no study of strength of materials necessary to create the guards he proposes. His knowledge and experience with TSP’s is limited to his examination of photographs and manufacturer’s literature. He has never seen one in operation in the narrow warehouse aisles for which the TSP was designed. The court can only conclude that Mr. Pacheco’s opinions about an unreasonably dangerous condition in the TSP fall into the category of subjective belief or unsupported speculation. The same can be said concerning his opinion about the absence of a warning about colliding with obstructions in the aisle and injury from intrusion. . . . He has not designed a warning for the TSP operator that would seek to ameliorate the unsafe condition he believes exists. It’s just his opinion that common sense would say that a warning would be appropriate. The district court, after concluding that Pacheco’s opinions were not supported by sufficient scientific evidence (that is, Pacheco’s lack of familiarity with both the product in question and the setting in which it was used), granted summary judgment in favor of Crown on the product liability count.