Opinion ID: 3090861
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Accenture’s Motion for a New Trial

Text: “This Court can overturn a decision denying a motion for a new trial only if it finds that the district court abused its discretion.” Seidman v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 923 F.2d 1134, 1140 (5th Cir. 1991). “The district court abuses its discretion by denying a new trial only when there is an ‘absolute absence of evidence to support the jury’s verdict.’” Id. (quoting Cobb v. Rowan Companies, Inc., 919 F.2d 1089, 1090 (5th Cir. 1991)); see Smith v. Transworld Drilling Co., 773 F.2d 610, 613 (5th Cir. 1985) (finding an abuse of discretion only if “the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, the damages awarded are excessive, the trial was unfair, or prejudicial error was committed in its course.”). “In reviewing the district court’s actions, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the jury verdict.” Seidman, 923 F.2d at 1140; see Dotson v. Clark Equip. Co., 805 F.2d 1225, 1227 (5th Cir. 1986) ( “A trial court should not grant a new trial on evidentiary grounds unless the verdict is against the great weight of the evidence.”). 1. Roman’s Testimony “In rulings on the admissibility of expert opinion evidence the trial court has broad discretion and its rulings must be sustained unless manifestly erroneous.” Viterbo v. Dow Chem. Co., 826 F.2d 420, 422 (5th Cir. 1987); see Watkins v. Telsmith, Inc., 121 F.3d 984, 988 (5th Cir. 1997). In making such rulings, district courts “function as gatekeepers and permit only reliable and relevant expert testimony to be presented to the jury.” Wilson, 163 F.3d at 937 (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590-93). “District courts must be assured that the 16 Case: 11-20816 Document: 00512502053 Page: 17 Date Filed: 01/15/2014 No. 11-20816 proffered witness is qualified to testify by virtue of his ‘knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.’” Wilson, 163 F.3d at 937 (quoting FED. R. EVID. 702). “A district court should refuse to allow an expert witness to testify if it finds that the witness is not qualified to testify in a particular field or on a given subject.” Wilson, 163 F.3d at 937; see United States v. Cooks, 589 F.3d 173, 179 (5th Cir. 2009). “‘Vigorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence.’” Pipitone v. Biomatrix, Inc., 288 F.3d 239, 250 (5th Cir. 2002) (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596). Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Wellogix software expert Roman to testify. Roman’s experience as a software developer and forensic analyst, and his fluency in different programming codes, qualified him as an expert on the subject of his testimony: software programming and source codes. See Wilson, 163 F.3d at 937. Further, by limiting his testimony to whether Wellogix’s source code was a trade secret, and whether Wellogix’s code matched SAP’s, Roman did not stray from this subject matter. See id. Accenture argues that Roman’s general computer sciences background did not qualify him to testify about “the oil-and-gas industry, complex-services procurement, or SAP software.” However, Roman did not need particular expertise in the oil-and-gas industry, or complex services procurement, to help the jury understand software concepts and terms. See FED . R. EVID. 702(a). Further, Roman had “specialized knowledge” about SAP’s software because he “testified that he had been able to teach himself [SAP’s programming language] language and implement the SAP software.” See id. Given that “Rule 702 does not mandate that an expert be highly qualified in order to testify about a given issue,” Huss, 571 F.3d at 452 (emphasis added), Roman’s background in computer science, and knowledge about SAP’s software, sufficed. 17 Case: 11-20816 Document: 00512502053 Page: 18 Date Filed: 01/15/2014 No. 11-20816 Accenture argues that, even if Roman was qualified, his testimony was unreliable because he did not investigate the facts underlying his opinions. Accenture notes that Roman twice misstated facts in his testimony. First, Roman said that a Wellogix design specification was “an incredibly valuable trade secret” and “would not be known publicly” even though it was available on Wellogix’s public website. Second, Roman compared Wellogix’s source code to the wrong software, causing the district court to wonder how “[h]ow . . . somebody as experienced as Mr. Roman [could] be . . . that much off the point” and make “such a rudimentary mistake.” However, Accenture had the chance to highlight and dispute these errors through “[v]igorous cross-examination” and the “presentation of contrary evidence.” Pipitone, 288 F.3d at 250. In the context of Roman’s broader testimony, two misstatements do not constitute “manifest[ ] erro[r].” Viterbo, 826 F.2d at 422. Accenture renews its argument, discussed above, that Roman testified about matters outside his personal knowledge. However, as we noted above, Roman’s testimony about the meaning of certain terms, and the availability of Wellogix’s source code, was within his “experience, training, or education.” See Wilson, 163 F.3d at 937. Likewise, Roman’s testimony about Accenture’s access to Wellogix’s trade secrets, Accenture’s breach of a confidentiality agreement with Wellogix, and Wellogix’s post-tort value related to Wellogix’s software, and therefore was within Roman’s expertise. See id.; FED. R. EVID. 702. 2. Patent-Related Documents Evidence is relevant if “it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” FED. R. EVID. 401(a). A district court “may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of . . . unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, [or] misleading the jury.” FED. R. EVID. 403; see Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 180 (1997). “A trial court’s ruling on admissibility under Rule 403’s 18 Case: 11-20816 Document: 00512502053 Page: 19 Date Filed: 01/15/2014 No. 11-20816 balancing test will not be overturned on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion.” Ballou v. Henri Studios, Inc., 656 F.2d 1147, 1153 (5th Cir. Sept. 1981); see Old Chief, 519 U.S. at 180. “We will not reverse a district court’s evidentiary rulings unless they are erroneous and substantial prejudice results. The burden of proving substantial prejudice lies with the party asserting error.” F.D.I.C. v. Mijalis, 15 F.3d 1314, 1318-19 (5th Cir. 1994); see Smith v. Wal-Mart Stores (No. 471), 891 F.2d 1177, 1180 (5th Cir.1990). Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Wellogix to introduce into evidence documents—including emails and a patent demand letter—in which Accenture appears to acknowledge, among other things, that its infringement of Wellogix patents created “some potential for litigation.” The district court, as requested by Accenture, instructed that “[t]he existence of a patent does not mean that a trade secret exists.” As discussed above, “[a] jury is presumed to follow its instructions,” Weeks, 528 U.S. at 234, and Accenture has not overcome this presumption in this instance. Also, noted earlier, without the documents, Wellogix presented sufficient evidence and testimony to support Wellogix’s misappropriation claim. In addition, as discussed below, the documents are relevant to support other propositions, such as Accenture’s malice to Wellogix. Although the district court observed in its order denying the motion for a new trial that, “from these emails, the jury was entitled to draw the inference that Accenture and BP had engaged in misappropriation of trade secrets,” the record evidence does not support that the district court allowed the patent-related documents into evidence for this purpose. Accenture argues that “the verdict itself shows the jury improperly relied on the” documents because the jury found that, by May 15, 2006—the date of the demand letter—Wellogix should have discovered Accenture’s misappropriation. However, as the district court concluded, the jury’s finding was proper because Wellogix framed the demand letter as “an indicator of the date by which 19 Case: 11-20816 Document: 00512502053 Page: 20 Date Filed: 01/15/2014 No. 11-20816 Wellogix was aware of Accenture’s wrongful conduct with respect to Wellogix’s intellectual property.” For example, in its closing statement, Wellogix noted that the date of discovery was “a tough one,” and that the demand letter suggested “the date of reasonable diligence when we discovered misappropriation.” Given that Wellogix did not represent that the documents showed that Accenture misappropriated Wellogix trade secrets, the jury’s use of the May 15, 2006 date, without more, does not overcome the presumption that the jury followed its instructions. See Weeks, 528 U.S. at 234. In sum, the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Roman to testify about software because Roman’s computer sciences background qualified him as an expert on software, and because he limited his testimony to that subject matter. The district court also did not abuse its discretion by allowing Wellogix to introduce into evidence patent-related documents because, among other things, the district court cautioned the jury that “[t]he existence of a patent does not mean that a trade secret exists.” As a result, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Accenture’s motion for a new trial.