PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude Defense Expert Testimony [Docket No. 152], wherein plaintiffs seek to prevent defendant NGL Warehouse, LLC ("NGL") from introducing certain opinion testimony of witnesses Joseph B. Michels, Ph.D. and Sher Paul Singh, Ph.D.
The factual background of this case is contained in the Court's order on plaintiffs' summary judgment motion [Docket No. 140] and will not be recounted here except as relevant. Plaintiffs seek indemnification from NGL for a settlement payment and associated defense costs they paid to resolve a Texas lawsuit involving a fatal accident at a Home Depot store. The accident occurred when doors manufactured by plaintiff Unique Home Designs, Inc. ("Unique") fell onto and killed John Valdez, a Home Depot employee. Docket No. 140 at 1. At the time of the accident, Mr. Valdez was unloading the doors from a pallet that defendant NGL, a warehouse company, had packed. Id. NGL failed to follow the customer specific requirements ("SOPS") it received from Unique requiring the doors to be packed at an angle using a stop block and wrapped in groups of four using blue inner wrapping material. Id. at 4-5.
After the fatal accident, Mr. Valdez's estate and his surviving relatives sued The Home Depot, Inc., Unique, and NGL (the "underlying action"). Docket No. 140 at 2. Home Depot filed third-party claims against the plaintiffs in the underlying action to recoup employee benefits it had paid
Unique and NGL are parties to a Warehouse Agreement, which contains the following indemnification provision:
Docket No. 105-1 at 13, ¶ 12.01. The Warehouse Agreement is governed by Colorado law. Id. at 14, ¶ 14.01.
Unique and Home Depot are parties to a Supplier Buying Agreement ("SBA"), which contains the following indemnification and defense provision:
Docket No. 154-2 at 8, ¶ 6.1.
On November 7, 2016, plaintiffs filed their motion to exclude. Docket No. 152. NGL does not oppose the exclusion of the opinions of Dr. Michels identified by plaintiffs. Docket No. 157 at 2. Accordingly, the Court will grant the motion with respect to the opinions of Dr. Michels identified by plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs argue that (a) certain of Dr. Singh's opinions about the packing of the doors and Home Depot's and NGL's alleged negligence are irrelevant because the only issue in this case is whether NGL must indemnify Unique for its contribution to the settlement of the underlying action, Docket No. 152 at 7-10; (b) NGL fails to establish that any of Home Depot's failures caused the accident and are therefore irrelevant, id. at 10-11; (c) Dr. Singh's opinions lack a reliable methodology, id. at 12-13; and (d) two of Dr. Singh's purported opinions are really fact statements that are not the proper subject of expert testimony. Id. at 4.
Defendant responds that Home Depot's alleged negligence is relevant because part of plaintiffs' $5 million payment in the underlying action is attributable to Home Depot's negligence, for which NGL has no duty to indemnify Unique. Docket No. 157 at 5-6 (citing Docket No. 154).
Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that:
Fed. R. Evid. 702. As the rule makes clear, while required, it is not sufficient that an expert be qualified based upon knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to give opinions in a particular subject area. Rather, the Court must "perform[ ] a two-step analysis." 103 Investors I, L.P. v. Square D Co., 470 F.3d 985, 990 (10th Cir. 2006). After determining whether the expert is qualified, the specific proffered opinions must be assessed for reliability. See id.; Fed. R. Evid. 702 (requiring that the testimony be "based on sufficient facts or data," be the "product of reliable principles and methods," and reflect a reliable application of "the principles and methods to the facts of the case").
Rule 702 imposes on the district court a "gatekeeper function to `ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable.'" United States v. Gabaldon, 389 F.3d 1090, 1098 (10th Cir. 2004) (quoting Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589 (1993)). To perform that function, the Court must "assess the reasoning and methodology underlying the expert's opinion, and determine whether it is both scientifically valid and applicable to a particular set of facts." Dodge v. Cotter Corp., 328 F.3d 1212, 1221 (10th Cir. 2003) (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93). When examining an expert's method, however, the inquiry should not be aimed at the "exhaustive search for cosmic understanding but for the particularized resolution of legal disputes." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 597. It is the specific relationship between an expert's method, the proffered conclusions, and the particular factual circumstances of the dispute that renders testimony both reliable and relevant.
In addition to the witness having appropriate qualifications and methods, the proponent of the witness' opinions must demonstrate that the process by which the witness derived his or her opinions is reliable. United States v. Crabbe, 556 F.Supp.2d 1217, 1220 (D. Colo. 2008). When assessing reliability, "the court may consider several nondispositive factors: (1) whether the proffered theory can and has been tested; (2) whether the theory has been subject to peer review; (3) the known or potential rate of error; and (4) the general acceptance of a methodology in the relevant scientific community." 103 Investors I, 470 F.3d at 990 (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 593-94). These considerations are not exhaustive. Rather, "the trial judge must have considerable leeway in deciding in a particular case how to go about determining whether particular expert testimony is reliable." Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152 (1999). Ultimately, the test requires that the expert "employs in the courtroom the same level of intellectual rigor that characterizes the practice of an expert in the relevant field." Id.
A court must also determine whether the proposed expert testimony will assist the trier of fact. Kumho Tire, 526 U.S. at 156; United States v. Rodriguez-Felix, 450 F.3d 1117, 1122 (10th Cir. 2006). To do so, courts consider, among other things, whether the testimony is relevant. Id. "Relevant expert testimony must logically advance a material aspect of the case and be sufficiently tied to the facts of the case that it will aid the jury in resolving a factual dispute." U.S. v. Garcia, 635 F.3d 472, 476 (10th Cir. 2011) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
While the proponent of the challenged testimony has the burden of establishing admissibility, the proffer is tested against the standard of reliability, not correctness, see Allstate Sweeping, LLC v. City & Cty. of Denver, No. 10-cv-00290-WJM-MJW, 2011 WL 2173997, at *3 (D. Colo. June 2, 2011); a proponent of expert testimony need only prove that "the witness has sufficient expertise to choose and apply a methodology, that the methodology applied was reliable, that sufficient facts and data as required by the methodology were used and that the methodology was otherwise reliably applied." Crabbe, 556 F. Supp. 2d at 1221.
Plaintiffs' motion seeks to exclude three opinions related to whether NGL's packaging of the doors, which did not conform to the SOPS, was reasonable:
Docket No. 152-3 at 22, ¶ 34 (emphasis added).
Id. (emphasis added)
Id. at 23, ¶ 35 (emphasis added)
The Court finds that the first of these opinions is proper because it is relevant and based on a reliable methodology. While industry standards are not dispositive on the issue of reasonable care, they are relevant. Yampa Valley Elec. Ass'n, Inc. v. Telecky, 862 P.2d 252, 257 (Colo. 1993) (citations omitted). Dr. Singh's report discusses various sources of industry regulation, test methodology, and industry specification in relation to the pallet at issue. Docket No. 152-3 at 18-22, ¶¶ 26-33. This discussion shows that Dr. Singh has obtained the sufficient data to render an opinion on whether industry standards conflicted with NGL's non-conforming palletization. See Crabbe, 556 F. Supp. 2d at 1223. In applying the industry standards, he discusses, for example, how the International Safe Transit Association ("ISTA") Test Procedure 1E "is not intended to cover safe loading or unloading of doors from the palletized configuration" and "does not address anything related to an angular stacking." Docket No. 152-3 at 21, ¶ 31. While his discussion is limited to general summaries of the relevant standards, it is sufficient to show that Dr. Singh considered potential violations of industry standards without taking logical leaps to reach unfounded conclusions. Crabbe, 556 F. Supp. 2d at 1224; see also Cook v. Rockwell Int'l Corp., 580 F.Supp.2d 1071, 1151 (D. Colo. 2006). Therefore, the Court will not exclude this opinion under Rule 702.
The Court finds, however, that the second and third opinions are irrelevant. These opinions focus on whether the doors were protected during shipment before arriving at Home Depot. Damage to the doors was not the issue of the underlying lawsuit and plaintiffs do not seek any recovery on that basis. See Docket No. 154-4 at 3-8. Rather, the issue in the underlying lawsuit was why the doors fell on Mr. Valdez and caused his death. Id. The issue in this case, therefore, is not whether NGL's packing of the doors was reasonable in protecting the doors, but whether NGL packed the subject doors with due care for the safety of employees such as Mr. Valdez. See Docket No. 140 at 16. Regardless of whether NGL took reasonable care in protecting the doors, that has no bearing on whether NGL acted with reasonable care with respect to those who would be unpacking the doors. The Court will therefore exclude these two opinions. See Etherton v. Owners Ins. Co., 829 F.3d 1209, 1223 (10th Cir. 2016) ("Expert testimony which does not relate to any issue in the case is not relevant and, ergo, non-helpful." (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591)).
Plaintiffs' motion seeks to exclude two of Dr. Singh's opinions related to Home Depot's alleged negligence:
Docket No. 152-3 at 22, ¶ 35.
Id. at 23, ¶ 36.
Defendant's theory is that some portion of the $5 million contributed by plaintiffs "was expended towards settlement of claims for which [Unique] is not entitled to indemnity from NGL." Docket No. 157 at 6. Specifically, NGL asserts that, under the SBA, Unique has a duty to indemnify Home Depot for both Unique's negligence and Home Depot's negligence. Docket No. 154 at 14-15. In support of this argument, NGL cites Section 6.1 of the SBA: "This agreement to indemnify, defend and hold [Home Depot] and its affiliates harmless applies whether or not the claim or loss was alleged to have been caused in whole or in part by the negligence or fault of [Home Depot]." Docket No. 154-2 at 8, ¶ 6.1. NGL interprets this sentence to require Unique to indemnify Home Depot for its own negligence. Docket No. 154 at 15. Assuming NGL's interpretation is correct,
First, NGL fails to show that any portion of plaintiffs' $5 million settlement payment indemnified Home Depot for its own negligence. As the proponent of Dr. Singh's opinions regarding Home Depot's negligence, NGL has the burden to demonstrate their relevance. Lapsley v. Xtek, Inc., 689 F.3d 802, 809 (7th Cir. 2012) ("Rule 702 requires that expert testimony be relevant, reliable, and have a factual basis — requirements that must be met before the jury is allowed to hear and perhaps be persuaded by the expert testimony."). To show that plaintiffs paid a portion of the $5 million to settle claims based on Home Depot's negligence, defendant relies on deposition testimony of Jamie Saenz and Unique. Docket No. 157 at 4. Mr. Saenz testified that the settlement included a provision for the "dismissal with prejudice of [Home Depot's] cross-claim . . . against Unique" for indemnification. Docket No. 154-9 at 8, 107:1-2. He also testified that the settlement included Home Depot's release of its ERISA reimbursement claims. Id. at 7, 106:16-25. The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of Unique provides the same information. Docket No. 154-3 at 5-6. Unique's corporate representative testified that the agreement prevented Home Depot from seeking reimbursement from Unique of the $950,000 Home Depot contributed to the settlement. Id. at 6, 30:3-6 ("I wanted to add that as [an] extra measure, that [the] five million [was] exhaustive of what Chubb
To the contrary, Home Depot's claim against Unique in the third-party complaint sought indemnification for the acts or omissions of Unique (or its subcontractors, like NGL), not for any alleged negligence of Home Depot. The third-party complaint alleged that the "pallet and packaging of the Unique Home Design doors were in the same condition as when they arrived at the Home Depot store" up until the time Mr. Valdez began removing the doors. Docket No. 154-4 at 4, ¶ 10. Home Depot also alleged that the packaging was deficient and that Mr. Valdez "died as a direct result" of that failure. Id. at 6, ¶¶ 25, 28.
Second, and independently, even if plaintiffs paid part of the $5 million to indemnify Home Depot for its own negligence, such payment would nevertheless be within the scope of the Warehouse Agreement. Dr. Singh's opinions that Home Depot should have had better quality control to detect the improperly packed doors and should have used material handling equipment to prevent the improperly packed doors from falling are not opinions that Home Depot's actions were independent causes of Mr. Valdez's death. Docket No. 152-3 at 22-23, ¶¶ 35-36. Rather, they are opinions about steps that Home Depot could have taken to mitigate the risk of the doors falling. The party that created the risk in the first place was NGL, not Home Depot. At most, these opinions would show that Home Depot's negligence was an additional cause, as opposed to an independent cause, of the fatal injuries. But NGL's theory that Home Depot was negligent in failing to detect or mitigate the risks from the pallet does not change the fact that NGL's alleged negligence in packing the pallet created the risk of the doors falling on Mr. Valdez. Id. Under the indemnification clause of the Warehouse Agreement, NGL indemnifies Unique against claims "resulting from" NGL's negligence. Docket No. 105-1 at 13, ¶ 12.01. In Burlington Northern R.R. Co. v. Stone Container Corp., 934 P.2d 902, 903-04 (Colo. App. 1997), a railroad worker was injured by an obstruction on the landowner's property. The trial court found that a landowner had to indemnify the railroad for all injuries to the railroad worker on his property, even though the underlying suit included claims against the railroad for negligence, because the indemnification agreement provided for indemnification for injuries arising "directly or indirectly" from a breach by the landowner. Id. at 904. The appeals court agreed with the trial court that the employee's injuries arose "indirectly" from the landowner's breach of the agreement and were therefore within the scope of the indemnification agreement. Id. at 905. The Warehouse Agreement's provision for indemnification for injuries "resulting from" a party's negligence has a similar effect here. The Court finds that the term "resulting from" in the Warehouse Agreement is appropriately construed to include harms caused by Home Depot's alleged failure to detect or prevent the dangerous condition allegedly caused by the negligent packing of the doors. Therefore, evidence of Home Depot's negligence would have no bearing on whether the $5 million settlement was "reasonable" and is therefore irrelevant. The Court will exclude Dr. Singh's opinions related to Home Depot's alleged negligence.
Plaintiffs' motion seeks to exclude two of Dr. Singh's opinions related to whether Unique worked to develop standards with the ISTA:
Docket No. 152-3 at 23, ¶ 37 (emphasis added).
Id., ¶ 38 (emphasis altered).
Plaintiffs claim that these opinions are not proper expert testimony because they are "speculation related to the existence of a fact." Docket No. 165 at 6. "Unlike an ordinary witness, see Rule 701, an expert is permitted wide latitude to offer opinions, including those that are not based on firsthand knowledge or observation." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592. Further, Rule 702 allows for testimony based on "specialized knowledge," and Dr. Singh's report shows that he has such knowledge with respect to the operations and responsibilities of the ISTA and he applies it to opine on whether certain facts are true. See Docket No. 152-3 at 20-23. Therefore, the Court will deny plaintiffs' motion to exclude these opinions on the basis that they are not actual expert opinion, lack sufficient underlying data, and use an unreliable methodology.
For the foregoing reasons, it is