The Implications of Kumho Tire: Applying Daubert Analysis to Warning-Label Testimony in Products Liability Cases

Indiana Law Journal

Volumn 76, Issue 1-2, 2001, Pages 464-482

  Ledford, Sara K ^a,b  

^a INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0346941439     PISSN: 00196665     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (183)

1. 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923).
2. 509 U.S. 579 (1993).
3. 526 U.S. 137 (1999).
4. Frye, 293 F. at 1014; see KENNETH R. FOSTER & PETER W. HUBER, JUDGING SCIENCE 11 (1997).
5. ERIC D. GREEN ET AL., FEDERAL RULES OF EVIDENCE, at xii (Aspen Law & Bus. 1997).
6. FED. R. EVID. 702-705.
7. See Judge Harvey Brown, Eight Gates for Expert Witnesses, 36 HOUS. L. REV. 743, 780 (1999).
8. FOSTER & HUBER, supra note 4, at 225.
9. Frye, 293 F. at 1013.
10. Id. at 1014.
11. Id. at 1013-14.
12. Id. at 1014.
13. Id.
14. Brown, supra note 7, at 778-79.
15. ROSEMARY J. ERICKSON & RITA J. SIMON, THE USE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA IN SUPREME COURT DECISIONS 23 (1998).
16. Id.; Brown, supra note 7, at 779.
17. Id.; Brown, supra note 7, at 779.
18. GREEN ET AL., supra note 5, at xii.
19. See Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999); Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).
20. FED. R. EVID. 702.
21. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 585; FOSTER & HUBER, supra note 4, at 11.
22. Brown, supra note 7, at 779-80.
23. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 579.
24. Id. at 582.
25. Id.
26. Id.
27. Id.
28. Id. at 583.
29. 28. Id.
30. See GREEN ET AL., supra note 5, at xii.
31. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 583.
32. Id. (quoting Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 727 F. Supp. 570, 572 (S.D. Cal. 1989)).
33. Id. at 583-84.
34. Id. at 584.
35. Id. (quoting Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 951 F.2d 1128, 1129 (9th Cir. 1991)).
36. Id.
37. Id.
38. Id. at 585.
39. Id. at 587.
40. Id.
41. Id.
42. Id. at 588.
43. Id.
44. Id. at 589.
45. Id. The general acceptance test is no longer the standard used to determine the admissibility of expert witness testimony but is one of the several factors that may be considered under the Daubert analysis. See discussion infra Part II.D.
46. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589.
47. Id.
48. Id. at 589-91.
49. Id. at 590.
50. Id.
51. Id. at 591.
52. Id. at 591-92.
53. Id. at 592.
54. Id. at 592-93.
55. Id.
56. Id. at 593.
57. Id.
58. Id.
59. Id.
60. Id.
61. Id.
62. Id. at 594.
63. Id. at 593.
64. Id. at 594.
65. Id.
66. Id. (quoting United States v. Downing, 753 F.2d 1224, 1238 (3d Cir. 1985)).
67. Id.
68. Id. at 595.
69. Id. at 597.
70. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 43 F.3d 1311 (9th Cir. 1995).
71. Id. at 1317.
72. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590 n.8.
73. FED. R. EVID. 702.
74. See Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999).
75. Id. at 141.
76. Id. at 142.
77. Id.
78. Id.
79. Id. at 146.
80. Id. at 147.
81. Id.
82. Id.
83. Id. at 147-48.
84. Id. at 148.
85. Id. at 149.
86. Id. at 150.
87. See id.
88. Id.
89. Id.
90. Id. at 152.
91. Id. at 153.
92. Id. at 154.
93. Id.
94. Id. at 154-56.
95. The Daubert case involved medical testimony and other types of hard-science testimony, see Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), and the Kumho Tire case involved engineering-type testimony, see Kumho Tire, 526 U.S. at 140.
96. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 579.
97. See supra text accompanying notes 52-60.
98. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 43 F.3d 1311 (9th Cir. 1995).
99. Id. at 1317.
100. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 593.
101. Id.
102. Id. The quotes the Court used are as follows: "'Scientific methodology today is based on generating hypotheses and testing them to see if they can be falsified; indeed, this methodology is what distinguishes science from other fields of human inquiry.'" Id. (quoting ERIC D. GREEN & CHARLES R. NESSON, PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE 645 (1983)). "'[T]he statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test.'" Id. (quoting CARL G. HEMPEL, PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE 49 (1966)). "'[T]He criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" Id. (quoting KARL R. POPPER, CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS: THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 37 (5th ed. 1989)).
103. Id. The quotes the Court used are as follows: "'Scientific methodology today is based on generating hypotheses and testing them to see if they can be falsified; indeed, this methodology is what distinguishes science from other fields of human inquiry.'" Id. (quoting ERIC D. GREEN & CHARLES R. NESSON, PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE 645 (1983)). "'[T]he statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test.'" Id. (quoting CARL G. HEMPEL, PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE 49 (1966)). "'[T]He criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" Id. (quoting KARL R. POPPER, CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS: THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 37 (5th ed. 1989)).
104. Id. The quotes the Court used are as follows: "'Scientific methodology today is based on generating hypotheses and testing them to see if they can be falsified; indeed, this methodology is what distinguishes science from other fields of human inquiry.'" Id. (quoting ERIC D. GREEN & CHARLES R. NESSON, PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE 645 (1983)). "'[T]he statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test.'" Id. (quoting CARL G. HEMPEL, PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE 49 (1966)). "'[T]He criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" Id. (quoting KARL R. POPPER, CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS: THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 37 (5th ed. 1989)).
105. Id. The quotes the Court used are as follows: "'Scientific methodology today is based on generating hypotheses and testing them to see if they can be falsified; indeed, this methodology is what distinguishes science from other fields of human inquiry.'" Id. (quoting ERIC D. GREEN & CHARLES R. NESSON, PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE 645 (1983)). "'[T]he statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test.'" Id. (quoting CARL G. HEMPEL, PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE 49 (1966)). "'[T]He criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" Id. (quoting KARL R. POPPER, CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS: THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 37 (5th ed. 1989)).
106. Id. The quotes the Court used are as follows: "'Scientific methodology today is based on generating hypotheses and testing them to see if they can be falsified; indeed, this methodology is what distinguishes science from other fields of human inquiry.'" Id. (quoting ERIC D. GREEN & CHARLES R. NESSON, PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE 645 (1983)). "'[T]he statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test.'" Id. (quoting CARL G. HEMPEL, PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE 49 (1966)). "'[T]He criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" Id. (quoting KARL R. POPPER, CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS: THE GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 37 (5th ed. 1989)).
107. 1999 WILEY EXPERT WITNESS UPDATE 77 (Eric Pierson ed., Aspen Law & Bus. 1999) (quoting Karl R. Popper, Realism, and the Aim of Science, in THE POSTSCRIPT TO THE LOGIC OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY (W. Bartley III ed., 1983)).
108. 1999 WILEY EXPERT WITNESS UPDATE 77 (Eric Pierson ed., Aspen Law & Bus. 1999) (quoting Karl R. Popper, Realism, and the Aim of Science, in THE POSTSCRIPT TO THE LOGIC OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY (W. Bartley III ed., 1983)).
109. FOSTER & HUBER, supra note 4, at 38.
110. Id. at 42.
111. Id.
112. Id. at 42, 44.
113. See id. at 49. The null hypothesis is "the assertion that the treated and untreated groups in an experiment do not differ significantly with respect to some characteristic under scrutiny." Id.
114. Id.
115. Id.
116. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 593 (1993).
117. See id.
118. See FOSTER & HUBER, supra note 4, at 72.
119. See id. at 70.
120. See, e.g., id. at 100-01 (discussing use of good laboratory and clinical practices to ensure integrity of scientific data).
121. See id. at 70, 72.
122. Id. at 70.
123. Id.
124. Id. Systematic errors are defined as those that "are the same for every measurement, or are a function of the value of the quantity being observed." Id.
125. Id. at 76.
126. Id.
127. See id. at 95-96.
128. Id. at 96, 100.
129. Id. at 100.
130. Id. at 101-02.
131. Id. at 100-01.
132. See id. at 83.
133. Id.
134. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 593 (1993).
135. Id.
136. Id. at 593-94.
137. Id. at 593.
138. FOSTER & HUBER, supra note 4, at 163.
139. Id. at 180.
140. Id. at 163.
141. Id. at 171.
142. Id. at 171, 174.
143. Id. at 174.
144. Id. at 175.
145. See id. at 175 (citation omitted).
146. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 594 (1993).
147. Id. (quoting United States v. Downing, 753 F.2d 1224, 1238 (3d Cir. 1985)).
148. Id.
149. Barbara Frederick, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Method or Madness?, 27 CONN. L. REV. 237, 251 (1994).
150. Id.
151. Id.
152. Id.
153. Id.
154. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 43 F.3d 1311, 1317 (9th Cir. 1995).
155. Id.
156. Id.
157. Id.
158. Id.
159. Id. at 1317-18.
160. ALVIN S. WEINSTEIN ET AL., PRODUCTS LIABILITY AND THE REASONABLY SAFE PRODUCT 4 (1978).
161. RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TORTS: PRODUCTS LIABILITY § 1 (1997).
162. See id. § 2.
163. Id.
164. WEINSTEIN ET AL., supra note 154, at 40.
165. Note, however, that even if a warning label is adequate it may not relieve the manufacturer or distributor of liability if a relatively simple design change could have decreased or eliminated the likelihood of harm. Alvin S. Weinstein, Consensus Standards for Warning Labels: Prescriptive but Not Protective, in PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS, INSTRUCTIONS, AND RECALLS 1984, at 153, 156-57 (1984) [hereinafter PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS].
166. Kenneth Ross, Creating the Warning Label System and Meeting the Duty to Instruct, in PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS, supra note 159, at 119, 121; Weinstein, supra note 159, at 160. As would be expected, there is not complete consensus on the elements or functions of an adequate warning label.
167. Kenneth Ross, Creating the Warning Label System and Meeting the Duty to Instruct, in PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS, supra note 159, at 119, 121; Weinstein, supra note 159, at 160. As would be expected, there is not complete consensus on the elements or functions of an adequate warning label.
168. Ross, supra note 160, at 121; Weinstein, supra note 159, at 160.
169. Ross, supra note 160, at 121; Weinstein, supra note 159, at 160.
170. Barbara Wrubel, Liability for Failure to Warn or Instruct, in PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS, supra note 159, at 9, 40 ("[A] warning may be deemed inadequate if it is not sufficiently intense; that is, if the language of the warning is not commensurate with the gravity of the harm likely to result from the danger." (citing Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Prods. Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973))); see also Ross, supra note 160, at 121.
171. Barbara Wrubel, Liability for Failure to Warn or Instruct, in PRODUCT LIABILITY WARNINGS, supra note 159, at 9, 40 ("[A] warning may be deemed inadequate if it is not sufficiently intense; that is, if the language of the warning is not commensurate with the gravity of the harm likely to result from the danger." (citing Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Prods. Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973))); see also Ross, supra note 160, at 121.
172. Wrubel, supra note 162, at 42; see also Ross, supra note 160, at 121.
173. Wrubel, supra note 162, at 42; see also Ross, supra note 160, at 121.
174. Ross, supra note 160, at 121.
175. Weinstein, supra note 159, at 162. There are three general classifications of signal words that roughly correlate to the intensity of the harm. In order from most intense to least, the generally recognized signal words are danger, warning, and caution. Id.; see also Ross, supra note 160, at 125.
176. Weinstein, supra note 159, at 162. There are three general classifications of signal words that roughly correlate to the intensity of the harm. In order from most intense to least, the generally recognized signal words are danger, warning, and caution. Id.; see also Ross, supra note 160, at 125.
177. Ross, supra note 160, at 125. There is also a continuum of color correlated to the intensity of warning, with the most intense being red, which is followed by orange, and finally yellow. Id.
178. Id. at 121. The factors mentioned above will be explained in further detail as they are used in the following hypothetical reliability analysis of a warning-label expert's testimony.
179. Weinstein, supra note 159, at 161.
180. The term "red danger" label refers to a warning label with the signal word "danger" that has a red background behind the word. Similarly, an "orange danger" label would have an orange background behind the signal word.
181. See BERNARD PHILLIPS, SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS 13 (1985).
182. See CURT R. BARTOL & ANNE M. BARTOL, PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW 7 (2d ed. 1994).
183. PHILLIPS, supra note 170, at 234 ("[I]t is important to understand that initial questions convey to the respondent information which he uses to assess the purposes of the study.").