Opinion ID: 2378166
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dr. Bateman's Testimony Reliably Applied His Experience to the Facts of This Case

Text: ¶ 18 Although the district court found that it need not reach rule 702(b)(iii), its erroneous determination that Dr. Bateman's specialized knowledge was not reliable is correctly interpreted as a determination under rule 702(b)(iii) that Dr. Bateman did not reliably apply his specialized knowledge to the facts of this case. Dr. Apfelbaum cites Beard v. K-Mart Corp., 2000 UT App 285, 12 P.3d 1015, to support the district court's decision that Dr. Bateman's testimony was mere speculation and not sufficient to show causation. In Beard, the plaintiff's expert testified that the injuries the plaintiff sustained in a K-Mart parking lot could have been the cause of some subsequent medical problems, but did not say with any certainty that they actually did cause the problems. Id. ¶¶ 18-19. In fact, the expert listed a number of other potential causes of the plaintiff's injuries. Id. The court of appeals reversed the jury verdict for the plaintiff because the expert's testimony was insufficient to demonstrate a causal link between the plaintiff's injury and her subsequent medical problems. Because [t]he expert medical testimony merely established a chronological relationship between the accident and her symptoms without linking the injury to the necessity of the surgery, the jury engaged in speculation rather than finding fact. Id. ¶ 20. ¶ 19 Unlike the expert testimony in Beard, Dr. Bateman's testimony did more than establish a chronological relationship between Jacob's visit to Dr. Apfelbaum and his perforated eardrum. Rather, based on his specialized knowledge in removing foreign objects from childrens' ears, Dr. Bateman testified that a sudden instance of pain accompanies a perforated eardrum. As a result of his analysis of the evidence, he identified Dr. Apfelbaum's examination as the point in time when this sudden instance of pain occurred. This testimony clearly applies Dr. Bateman's specialized knowledge to the facts in evidence in a way that satisfies the threshold showing of reliability required by rule 702.