Court Error – Expert Opinion

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Sandra Hall v. Ann Flannery, et al

Case No.: 15-2602

Officials: BAUER, FLAUM, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges

Focus: Court Error – Expert Opinion

Chelsea Weekley suffered a skull fracture as an infant and underwent surgery 17 years later to fix it. She died several days after the surgery, and her mother, Sandra Hall, sued the hospital and the surgeons. Hall argued that the surgery caused Weekley to suffer a seizure and die, and that the surgeons should have prescribed anti‐seizure medication. But the defendants argued that no seizure had occurred and that a heart‐related ailment was the likely cause of death. A jury trial was held and the jury found in the defendants’ favor. On appeal, Hall argues that the district judge erroneously permitted three of the defendants’ experts to opine about Weekley’s likely cause of death. We conclude that Hall forfeited her arguments as to two of these experts by making perfunctory and underdeveloped arguments concerning the experts’ testimony, qualifications, and methodology. However, we find that the third expert lacked the requisite qualifications to opine that Weekley’s heart ailment was the likely cause of death. Because there is a significant chance that the erroneous admission of this expert testimony affected the out‐ come of the trial, we vacate the district court’s judgment and remand for further proceedings.

Vacated and remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.