Opinion ID: 1372497
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Causation Evidence from the Plaintiffs' Expert Witnesses

Text: The plaintiffs sought to establish causation for all of their claims through the use of expert testimony offered by Dr. Fink and Dr. Kohn. To defeat a summary judgment motion, however, a party may rely only on admissible evidence. See Schindler, 474 F.3d at 1010; Stinnett v. Iron Works Gym/Executive Health Spa, Inc., 301 F.3d 610, 613 (7th Cir.2002); Smith v. City of Chi., 242 F.3d 737, 741 (7th Cir.2001). This rule applies with equal vigor to expert testimony. See Porter v. Whitehall Labs., Inc., 9 F.3d 607, 612 (7th Cir.1993) (noting that expert testimony must be admissible to be considered in a motion for summary judgment); see also Rosen v. Ciba-Geigy Corp., 78 F.3d 316, 320 (7th Cir.1996) (affirming summary judgment when the district court declined to consider expert testimony that it found inadmissible). Thus, the first question that we must answer is whether the district court properly excluded the evidence presented by Fink and Kohn. The appellants' initial challenge is procedural. Lewis and Livingston claim that the district court was required to consider questions pertaining to the admissibility of evidence separately from those related to the summary judgment motion. Specifically, the appellants argue that their experts' testimony remained admissible at the time of the summary judgment motion because CITGO did not first move to have it stricken. They assert that the court's decision to exclude the evidence, which it made concurrently with its order granting summary judgment, was therefore improper. We disagree. Although it is rarely a dispositive question, we have repeatedly affirmed district courts that have made evidentiary rulings on proposed expert testimony in conjunction with summary judgment orders. See, e.g., Dhillon v. Crown Controls Corp., 269 F.3d 865, 868, 871 (7th Cir.2001); Rosen, 78 F.3d at 318, 320; Porter, 9 F.3d at 612, 616-17. The factors the district court must consider in determining the admissibility of expert testimony are well established, see Fed.R.Evid. 702; Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 592-95, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), but the law grants the district court great discretion regarding the manner in which it conducts that evaluation, see Kirstein v. Parks Corp., 159 F.3d 1065, 1067 (7th Cir.1998). In Kirstein, we noted that [w]e have not required that the Daubert inquiry take any specific form and have, in fact, upheld a judge's sua sponte consideration of the admissibility of expert testimony. Id. (citing O'Conner v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 13 F.3d 1090 (7th Cir. 1994)). Given this precedent, it was entirely proper for the district court to determine the admissibility of the plaintiffs' expert testimony at the same time that it decided the defendant's motion for summary judgment. Further, given that the district court may consider the admissibility of expert testimony sua sponte, see O'Conner, 13 F.3d at 1094, 1107, it is of no import that CITGO objected to the expert testimony only in its motion for summary judgment, as opposed to first filing a separate motion in limine. Having found the appellants' procedural argument unavailing, we now turn to the substance of the district court's decision that the testimony of the plaintiffs' experts was inadmissible. In cases where the district court based its decision to grant summary judgment on the exclusion of certain expert testimony, we review de novo whether the court employed the correct legal standard in reaching its admissibility decision. Winters v. Fru-Con Inc., 498 F.3d 734, 742 (7th Cir.2007). Once satisfied that it did, we review only whether the court abused its discretion in its choice of factors to include within that framework as well as its ultimate conclusions regarding the admissibility of expert testimony. Id. The admissibility of expert testimony is governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and the Supreme Court's opinion in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Naeem v. McKesson Drug Co., 444 F.3d 593, 607 (7th Cir.2006). Expert testimony is admissible when the testimony is reliable and would assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine a fact at issue in a case. See Fed.R.Evid. 702; Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589-91, 113 S.Ct. 2786. The proponent of the expert bears the burden of demonstrating that the expert's testimony would satisfy the Daubert standard. Fed. R.Evid. 702 advisory committee's note (2000 Amends.) ([T]he admissibility of all expert testimony is governed by the principles of Rule 104(a). Under that Rule, the proponent has the burden of establishing that the pertinent admissibility requirements are met by a preponderance of the evidence.); cf. Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 175-76, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987) (holding that the proponent of hearsay evidence must prove to the court, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the Rules of Evidence have been satisfied). Because it is clear from the district court's order that it applied Rule 702 and Daubert, we are satisfied that the court utilized the correct standard in conducting its analysis. Thus, we review the substance of the court's evidentiary decisions only for an abuse of discretion. See Winters, 498 F.3d at 742. Upon review, we conclude that the court was well within the bounds of its discretion in deciding not to consider the testimony of Fink and Kohn. A party challenging the admissibility of expert testimony can take issue with both the qualifications and the methodology of the proposed expert. For a witness to be considered an expert, Rule 702 requires that person to be qualified as such by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education. But it is not enough that the proposed testimony comes from a qualified physician. As we have said: [Q]ualifications alone do not suffice. A supremely qualified expert cannot waltz into the courtroom and render opinions unless those opinions are based upon some recognized scientific method and are reliable and relevant under the test set forth by the Supreme Court in Daubert.  Clark v. Takata Corp., 192 F.3d 750, 759 n. 5 (7th Cir.1999); see also Rosen, 78 F.3d at 318 ([A] district judge asked to admit scientific evidence must determine whether the evidence is genuinely scientific, as distinct from being unscientific speculation offered by a genuine scientist.). Instead, to be admissible, a medical expert's ultimate opinion must be grounded in the scientific process and may not be merely a subjective belief or unsupported conjecture. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589-90, 113 S.Ct. 2786; Goodwin v. MTD Prods., Inc., 232 F.3d 600, 608-09 (7th Cir.2000). In its motion for summary judgment, CITGO challenged both Dr. Fink's qualifications and his methodology. CITGO argued that Fink was an allergist and had no training or experience in toxicology or epidemiology. CITGO noted that Fink had treated one patient twelve years earlier who had experienced hydrogen sulfide exposure, and, in preparing his diagnosis in this case, he spent only thirty minutes researching a medical database for relevant information about hydrogen sulfide exposure. CITGO also contested Fink's conclusions regarding both general and specific causation. It pointed to several notable gaps within Dr. Fink's cause-and-effect conclusions, which CITGO argued were based on mere speculation and therefore inadmissible. In lodging complaints against Dr. Kohn, CITGO focused exclusively on Kohn's methodology. Kohn, who did not examine Lewis and Livingston until two-and-a-half years after the incident, conceded that Livingston did not have PTSD at the time of his evaluation, but stated that she likely met criteria for [PTSD] at some point in the months following the accident. Kohn reached this conclusion based only on information gathered from Livingston herself; he did not examine her prior medical records. Additionally, Kohn diagnosed Livingston with an underlying mood disorder, which he opined was likely Bipolar Type II, yet he failed to support his conclusions related to the interplay of this underlying disorder and Livingston's past bout with PTSD. As to Lewis, Kohn found that the incident triggered his headaches. There again, however, he failed to consider and discount other potential causes, including many purported stressors that were occurring in Lewis's work and social lives. Faced with CITGO's challenges, Lewis and Livingston, who bore the burden of proving the admissibility of their evidence, see Bourjaily, 483 U.S. at 175-76, 107 S.Ct. 2775, failed to advance any arguments in support of their experts. They did not suggest that Fink was qualified to render an opinion in this case or that Fink and Kohn based their conclusions on anything other than speculation. Instead, they chose to argue solely on the aforementioned procedural groundthat it was improper for CITGO to challenge the admissibility of their experts' testimony in a summary judgment motionan argument with which we have already dispatched. Presented with substantive arguments from only one side, the district court was well within its discretion to review the record and agree with CITGO's basic contention that the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden to establish the admissibility of their evidence. Our review of the record reveals no reason to disturb this conclusion. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to consider the testimony of Dr. Fink and Dr. Kohn in rendering its summary judgment decision.