{"id":886383,"date":"2016-01-13T06:58:13","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T13:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=886383"},"modified":"2016-01-12T14:06:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T21:06:21","slug":"close-call-on-daubert-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/close-call-on-daubert-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Close Call on Daubert Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Squire Patton Boggs | December 29, 2015<\/p>\n<p>In an opinion filed on December 16, the Sixth Circuit\u00a0discussed\u00a0a\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/what-exactly-was-excluded-proffering-expert-opinions-to-preserve-daubertfrye-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\">Daubert<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>question that the court declared to be a \u201cclose call,\u201d but ultimately agreed with the district court\u2019s finding that the expert testimony was admissible. The\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/daubert-testimony-based-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\">Daubert<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>issue was on appeal as part of a complex case that involved a claim made by Contract Design Group, Inc. (CDG), a commercial floor covering company, claiming that Wayne State University and various university officials breached a contract and violated CDG\u2019s procedural due process. The facts involve a decision by Wayne State to suspend a contract with CDG and bar CDG from doing work for Wayne State in the future because Wayne State became concerned that CDG was in violation of Michigan\u2019s prevailing wage laws.<\/p>\n<p>At trial, CDG used <a href=\"http:\/\/expertwitnessinconstruction.com\/experts.php\" target=\"_blank\">expert testimony<\/a> from Ted Funke to explain the methodology used by the plaintiffs to estimate damages and to demonstrate the reasonableness of the approach. Funke explained that his calculation of damages was based on information obtained from representatives of CDG and that the final damage total was based on lost gross profits during 41 months following the disbarment of CDG from future Wayne State work. On cross-examination, Funke admitted that his projections for profits from future work with Wayne State were not based on actual contracts between the university and CDG, but were rather based on an assumption that the historical patterns of dealing between the two parties would continue into the future. Wayne State argued that Funke\u2019s testimony should be excluded due to \u201cflawed methodology\u201d and that Funke\u2019s testimony: 1) ignored factors such as the economic downturn or actual order placements; 2) assumed continued work from Wayne State despite a strained relationship; and 3) inappropriately considered gross profits rather than net profits.<\/p>\n<p>Despite admitting that it \u201cwouldn\u2019t say [Funke] was the best expert,\u201d the district court considered the issues with Funke\u2019s testimony impacted the weight of the evidence rather than the admissibility. In its review, the Sixth Circuit explained that the decision rested on a determination of whether the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/florida-bar-pushes-back-against-expert-testimony-law\/\" target=\"_blank\">expert testimony<\/a> was \u201covertly speculative,\u201d and referenced \u00a0its past decision in\u00a0<em>Multimatic, Inc. v. Faurecia Interior Systems USA, Inc.<\/em>\u00a0(excluding testimony that involved a ten-year prediction about the fortunes of the automotive industry) and the Fourth Circuit\u2019s decision in\u00a0<em>MyGallons LLC v. US Bancorp\u00a0<\/em>to exclude testimony based on inappropriate credentials and disregard for \u201creal circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite pointing out that Funke was \u201chardly a model of precision, the Sixth Circuit determined that the district court had not abused its discretion, finding that \u201cFunke\u2019s failure to consider certain factors\u2026 could have reasonably been understood to go to weight rather than admissibility.\u201d This holding illustrates some of the challenges in attacking \u201c\u2018shaky but admissible evidence\u2019\u201d and the need for appellants in those situations to do more than simply criticize someone as a bad expert.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=02c41cf1-ca92-4e89-a28d-fa321f3abccc&amp;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&amp;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&amp;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&amp;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2015-12-31&amp;utm_term=\" target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Squire Patton Boggs | December 29, 2015 In an opinion filed on December 16, the Sixth Circuit\u00a0discussed\u00a0a\u00a0Daubert\u00a0question that the court declared to be a \u201cclose call,\u201d but ultimately agreed with the district court\u2019s finding that the expert testimony was admissible. The\u00a0Daubert\u00a0issue was on appeal as part of a complex case that involved a claim made&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/close-call-on-daubert-question\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close Call on Daubert Question<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[9025,136],"class_list":["post-886383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expert-witness","tag-daubert","tag-expert-witness-testimony","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Close Call on Daubert Question - Advise &amp; 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