Opinion ID: 396160
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cost of Recall.

Text: 33 Of the total cost of recall damages requested by Upjohn, $123,665.94 was attributable to salesmen's time. A total of 790 Upjohn salesmen visited the pharmacies and hospitals to which the defective nitrofurantoin had been shipped, picked up the pre-stocked quantities, and mailed them back to Kalamazoo, Michigan for destruction. Evidence of the amount of time spent by salesmen in conducting the recall was presented through William Newman, Upjohn's Market Development Manager. Newman referred to a survey of forty salesmen involved in the recall; this survey formed the basis for Upjohn's computation of the recall's cost. Newman did not know how the forty salesmen were chosen, and no evidence was presented which established the statistical reliability of the sample. Newman testified that in his opinion the sample was large enough, and that the survey was a reliable measure of salesman time devoted to the recall. 34 Rachelle argues that because Newman had no personal knowledge of the survey design, his opinion as to the reliability of the survey could not be an adequate basis for the damage award. It further contends that Newman's opinion was based on hearsay evidence, and is for that reason an inadequate evidentiary foundation for the jury's award of recall damages. 35 In its opinion on Rachelle's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, the District Court concluded that Upjohn did not lay a sufficient foundation to permit the salesman survey to be independently considered by the jury. It also found, however, that Newman's experience as a sales analyst, his knowledge and familiarity with survey techniques, and his statistical and business training qualified him as an expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 702. It concluded that the survey, though inadmissible, was data of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in that particular field in forming opinions on the subject. Rule 703, Federal Rules of Evidence. This finding was based on Newman's testimony that Upjohn put a large sum of money into survey design and that he had personally done a number of research studies. The court noted that Newman was available for cross-examination into his qualifications as an expert and the propriety of using the survey data in forming his opinion. It concluded that the presentation of the survey data through Newman as an expert witness remedied the evidentiary shortcomings of the survey alone. The court agreed with Rachelle that the survey itself should not have been admitted into evidence, but concluded that any prejudice resulting therefrom was insignificant. 36 We find no error in the submission of this damage issue to the jury on the evidence in the record. Rachelle has never contested the fact that Upjohn incurred a loss in the recall of the nitrofurantoin. The District Court was acutely aware of the legal problems attendant upon the use of survey evidence in establishing the amount of that loss. We find that it did not abuse its discretion in holding that the survey was the type of data reasonably relied upon by experts in the field in forming opinions such as that offered by Newman. See United States v. 2,847.58 Acres of Land, 529 F.2d 682, 685 (6th Cir. 1976). The court correctly determined that the weaknesses of the factual basis of Newman's opinion should bear on the weight of the evidence rather than its admissibility. See Taenzler v. Burlington Northern, 608 F.2d 796, 798, n.3 (8th Cir. 1979). 37