Opinion ID: 728910
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Expert's Credentials and Methodology

Text: 79 Dr. Brown holds a masters degree from Cornell University and a doctorate in agronomy from the University of Nebraska. He has written more than 150 scholarly, scientific articles and a book dealing with the disposal and treatment of hazardous waste substances. His professional qualifications make him an expert witness, and the district court so found. See Murtha II, 815 F.Supp. at 543. 80 Dr. Brown submitted an affidavit in support of the coalitions' position that appellees were potentially responsible parties at both landfill sites. In preparing this sworn statement, he reviewed numerous reports including, most significantly, six reports relating to the Laurel Park landfill and three reports discussing the Beacon Heights landfill. 5 After examining these reports, the expert was of the opinion that there [were] CERCLA hazardous substances present in each and every leachate sample from these landfills. Dr. Brown did not personally visit the landfills or dig up any shovelfuls of waste, but he was not required to do so. 81 He studied EPA reports concerning municipal and industrial landfills in the United States and he set forth the types of hazardous substances found in waste streams generated by households, commercial establishments, institutions, and industries. He used these reports to generate lists of the wastes and CERCLA hazardous substances routinely discarded by typical households, commercial establishments, institutions, and industries during the time period relevant to this case. After comparing the concentrations of hazardous substances in the leachates from the two landfills with the concentrations generally found in municipal solid waste landfills in the United States, he concluded, in his expert opinion, that the waste streams disposed of in the two landfills were similar to the landfills he had studied and that they contained CERCLA hazardous substances. 82 Further, Dr. Brown read the statements that the various appellees made in their deposition testimony and read other documents relevant to the kind of waste disposed of by each appellee. His comments varied for each appellee. Based on the available information, he meticulously linked the types of wastes, including identification of specific products discarded by each defendant, with specific CERCLA hazardous substances. His analysis relied on a series of studies and reports that showed which known CERCLA hazardous substances are in specific waste products. This allowed him to correlate the specific wastes disposed of by each appellee to specific hazardous substances. 83 For example, when a party admitted to disposing of tire products, Dr. Brown explained which hazardous substances are found in normal tire products. Although he could not swear with absolute certainty that the tire products disposed by a specific appellee were similar to normal tire products, such absolute certainty is not required to oppose successfully a summary judgment motion; rather, at the summary judgment stage, the trial judge must decide only whether a reasonable jury could find liability by a preponderance of the evidence. Further, when the appellees failed to submit any evidence to distinguish the products of which they disposed from those addressed by Dr. Brown in his affidavit, Dr. Brown's probabilistic evidence stands largely uncontradicted. Moreover, each and every type of product disposed of need not contain hazardous substances. Any amount of such substances is sufficient to create liability.