Utility Trailer Sales of Kansas City, Inc. v. Mac Trailer Manufacturing, Inc.
Utility Trailer Sales of Kansas City, Inc. v. Mac Trailer Manufacturing, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This is a breach of contract and tortious interference case. It arises out of a dealer agreement that granted the plaintiff, Utility Trailer Sales of Kansas City, Inc. (“Utility Trailer”), a license to sell products and trailers manufactured by one of the defendants, MAC Trailer Manufacturing, Inc. (“MAC”). Utility Trailer alleges that MAC, in conjunction with the other defendant, Summit Truck Equipment, LLC (“Summit”), took action to undermine and destroy Utility Trailer’s dealership by, among other things, opening a competing MAC dealership, failing to support Utility Trailer’s MAC dealership, and purporting to terminate the dealer agreement. Trial is scheduled to begin on May 17, 2010. The case is presently before the undersigned U.S. Magistrate Judge, James P. O’Hara,
1. Governing Legal Standards
The Supreme Court has instructed that trial courts have a “gate-keeping obligation” to determine the admissibility of all expert testimony.
If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to*370 understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.
Thus, pursuant to this rule, the court must consider, first, whether the expert is qualified to give the opinion and, second, whether the opinion expressed “rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand.”
Under the first step, the court must satisfy itself that the expert is qualified “by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education” to render the opinion.
Under the second step, “the court must determine whether the expert’s opinion is reliable by assessing the underlying reasoning and methodology, as set forth in Daubert.”
Even after Daubert, rejection of expert testimony has been the exception rather than the rule.
II. Discussion and Analysis
Mr. Hill is a certified public accountant accredited in business valuation. Utility
1. Mr. Hill is Qualified
Under the first step in the admissibility analysis, the court is satisfied that Mr. Hill is qualified “by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education” to render the opinion on Utility Trailer’s lost profits.
Defendants argue that Mr. Hill is not an expert on “sales practices” nor “the market for trailers,” and thus was not qualified to make assumptions about how the trailer market will react in certain situations.
Hill considered the economic outlook for the trailer market, he relied upon a known source of data in the industry, the March 2009, “Commercial Vehicle Market Intelligence Report” by R.L. Polk & Co. Thus, the court is comfortable that Mr. Hill’s opinions are based on a substantial foundation, rather than speculation. To the extent that Mr. Hill lacks specific experience in the trailer industry, defendants may explore this fact on cross examination.
2. Mr. Hill’s Opinions Are Reliable
The court next considers whether Mr. Hill’s opinions are reliable by assessing his reasoning and methodology, as set forth in Daubert. Defendants argue that Mr. Hill’s calculation of Utility Trailer’s compound annual growth rate at 20% for five years is subject to an extraordinarily high rate of error because he used Utility Trailer’s sales figures from only two years—2001 and 2008. Defendants state that Mr. Hill has not cited authority that would support this method of determining growth rate, and defendants suggest a number of other analysis Mr. Hill “could have performed.”
While perhaps Mr. Hill did not use the “best” method in calculating the compound growth rate, the standard for admissibility is reliability, not superiority. Mr. Hill reached his prediction by using standard, albeit basic, accounting principles. And contrary to defendant’s assertions, Mr. Hill considered factors other than Utility Trailer’s unit sales for 2001 and 2008 in reaching his conclusion. Mr. Hill’s report details his evaluation of other factors, such as the general U.S. economic outlook, the regional economy, and business cycles and growth trends for the trucking industry. Mr. Hill then checked the reasonableness of his forecasted growth rate by preparing a linear regression analysis of
Defendants also assert that Mr. Hill’s opinions are not reliable because his assumptions are baseless. “While expert opinions ‘must be based on facts which enable [the expert] to express a reasonably accurate conclusion as opposed to conjecture or speculation, ... absolute certainty is not required.’ ”
Finally, defendants raise a number of arguments that, rather than attacking the methodology used by Mr. Hill, attack his conclusions.
3. Mr. Hill’s Opinions Are Relevant
The court’s final consideration is whether Mr. Hill’s opinions are relevant, i.e., whether his reasoning and methodology were properly applied to the facts in issue such that his testimony will “assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.”
fendants also contend that Mr. Hill failed to disaggregate lost profits caused by this dispute and lost profits caused by the current economic recession.
Once again, the court finds these concerns better addressed in cross-examination than in determining the admissibility of expert testimony. Mr. Hill was tasked with the difficult job of predicting Utility Trailer’s future lost profits. In making his prediction of the future, Mr. Hill considered known past events, such as Utility Trailer’s historical financial results and the market share of MAC trailers in Kansas and Missouri. Mr. Hill then considered the current state of the U.S. economy, the regional economy, economic forecasts, and industry forecasts. Of course, how the U.S. and regional economies will fare in upcoming years is unknown, but the court finds Mr. Hill’s prediction of the future to be based on historical and current facts, as well as reasoned assumptions. Mr. Hill estimated Utility Trailer’s future lost profits caused by this dispute and considered the state of the economy in doing so. Mr. Hill was not asked, nor required, to give a second estimate of future lost profits caused by the economy.
Based on the foregoing, the court concludes that Mr. Hill’s expert testimony meets the standards as set forth in Fed.R.Evid. 702 and Daubert. This ruling, however, is not meant to suggest that the court anticipates Mr. Hill being a particularly strong witness for Utility Trailer. That is, many of the points raised by defendants’ motion undoubtedly will be made again—very forcefully— during Mr. Hill’s cross examination.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that defendants’ motion to exclude the expert testimony of Mr. Hill (doc. 118) is denied.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. Originally, this case was scheduled to be tried by U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum. However, the parties recently consented to have the undersigned preside at trial (see doc. 123).
. Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 141, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999) (citing Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)).
. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
. Fed.R.Evid. 702; see also United States v. Nac-chio, 555 F.3d 1234, 1241 (10th Cir. 2009).
. Fed.R.Evid. 702 advisory committee's notes.
. LifeWise Master Funding v. Telebank, 374 F.3d 917, 928 (10th Cir. 2004) (quoting Graham v. Wyeth Labs., 906 F.2d 1399, 1408 (10th Cir. 1990)).
. Nacchio, 555 F.3d at 1241.
. Kumho Tire, 526 U.S. at 149-50, 119 S.Ct. 1167.
. Id. at 151, 119 S.Ct. 1167; Fed.R.Evid. 702 advisory committee’s notes.
. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
. Fed.R.Evid. 702 advisory committee’s notes; Aerotech Res., Inc. v. Dodson Aviation, Inc., No. 00-2099, 2001 WL 474296, at *2 (D.Kan. Apr. 4, 2001). See also Robinson v. Missouri Pac. R.R., 16 F.3d 1083, 1090 (10th Cir. 1994) ("Doubts about whether an expert’s testimony will be useful should generally be resolved in favor of admissibility unless there are strong factors such as time or surprise favoring exclusions. The jury is intelligent enough ... to ignore what is unhelpful in its deliberations.”).
. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
. Jacklovich v. Simmons, 392 F.3d 420, 429 (10th Cir. 2004); United States v. Varoz, 740 F.2d 772, 775 (10th Cir. 1984).
. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 596, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
. Doc. 118 at 2.
. Id. at 2.
. Fed.R.Evid. 702; see also Nacchio, 555 F.3d at 1241.
. Doc. 118 at 8.
. See The Paradigm Alliance, Inc. v. Celeritas Tech., LLC, No. 07-1121-EFM, 2009 WL 3855677, at *3 (D.Kan. Nov. 17, 2009) ("And while Celeritas’ challenges as to whether Dr. Ward’s assumptions are valid may give rise to objections at trial, we find that such arguments go towards the weight of Dr. Ward’s opinion rather than to its admissibility for purposes of this Daubert hearing.”)
. Dodge v. Cotter Corp., 328 F.3d 1212, 1222 (10th Cir. 2003) (quoting Gomez v. Martin Marietta Corp., 50 F.3d 1511, 1519 (10th Cir. 1995)).
. The Paradigm Alliance, Inc., 2009 WL 3855677, at *3.
. See doc. 118 at 4-5.
. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 595, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
. Fed.R.Evid. 702; see also Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UTILITY TRAILER SALES OF KANSAS CITY, INC. v. MAC TRAILER MANUFACTURING, INC. and Summit Truck Equipment, LLC
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published