Opinion ID: 1224019
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Expert Witness Issue

Text: LSC next raises an evidentiary point, challenging the trial court's decision to allow Bob Langberg to testify as an expert witness. Langberg was LSC's Contract Manager and Job Manager. He participated in the negotiation of LSC's agreement with the Corps of Engineers. LSC's answer to SPI's complaint included a third-party complaint naming Langberg as a defendant. Langberg was evidently deposed and subpoenaed to testify as a fact witness while still a party. He apparently settled with LSC shortly before trial. At trial, SPI moved to qualify Langberg as an expert witness on the impact of cold weather on construction equipment, noting his thirty years' experience in the construction industry in Alaska. Counsel for LSC objected. The trial court, citing Langberg's experience, allowed him to testify as an expert on this subject. LSC now complains that Langberg lacked educational and experiential qualifications to testify as an expert on cold weather impacts. We review a trial court's decision to qualify an expert witness only for abuse of discretion. Colt Inds. Operating Corp. v. Frank W. Murphy Mfr. Inc., 822 P.2d 925, 932 (Alaska 1991). Alaska Evidence Rule 702 allows a witness to be qualified as an expert on the basis of experience alone. The record and briefs indicate that Langberg had thirty years' experience in the Alaskan construction industry. We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision to allow Langberg to be qualified as an expert on the impact of cold weather on construction equipment. At any rate, Langberg never actually testified about the impact of cold weather on construction equipment. Instead, he was questioned at length about his personal knowledge of the contract negotiations, his understanding of the meaning of particular terms in the contracts, and his understanding of industry usage. Although LSC now argues about Langberg's lack of expertise in cold weather impacts, its complaints address only Langberg's testimony concerning SPI's contract negotiations with LSC and the meaning of the resulting equipment lease agreement. Langberg addressed these matters as a fact witness testifying from personal knowledge, not as an expert witness. His personal knowledge of these matters and his involvement in this case qualified him to express his opinion as a lay witness. See Alaska Rule of Evidence 701; In re D.J.A, 793 P.2d 1033, 1036 (Alaska 1990). See also Reutter v. State, 886 P.2d 1298, 1309 (Alaska App. 1994). [8]