Opinion ID: 2813867
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Trial Court Judgment

Text: On March 7, 2011, some three months after the return of the jury verdict, Judge Wimberly entered judgment for the Plaintiff and awarded $3.2 million in compensatory damages. The Plaintiff filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment asking for reinstatement of damages in the amount of $8.6 million, arguing that the jury’s answers to the questions on the original special verdict form required the higher award. The Defendant filed a motion seeking a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial. After argument by counsel, Judge Wimberly granted a new trial, citing reasons “including, but not limited to, instructional and evidentiary errors that resulted in an injustice to [the] Defendant . . . , independent of considerations regarding sufficiency of the evidence.” Six months later, Judge Wimberly entered an order of recusal, and the case was reassigned to Judge Dale Workman. On September 4, 2012, the Defendant filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude the testimony of the Plaintiff’s expert witnesses: Mr. Mantooth, as to Mr. Payne’s level of exposure to radiation; Dr. Vance, as to Mr. Payne’s levels of exposure to asbestos, diesel exhaust fumes, and radiation; and Drs. Frank and Kerns, as to whether Mr. Payne’s exposure to asbestos, diesel exhaust fumes, or radiation were contributing causes of his lung cancer. Although Judge Wimberly had overruled similar motions prior to the original trial, Judge Workman granted the Defendant’s motion in limine due to a lack of “accepted” or “reliable” scientific evidence, thereby excluding all of the testimony by the Plaintiff’s expert witnesses on the issue of causation. When the Plaintiff -16- acknowledged an inability to otherwise establish causation absent the excluded testimony of her experts, Judge Workman granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendant and dismissed the case.