By: Derek Hawkins//November 21, 2017//
WI Court of Appeals – District I
Case Name: Fabiola Colin Miranda, et al. v. Luther Gaston, M.D., et al.
Case No.: 2016AP2178
Officials: Brennan, P.J., Kessler and Dugan, JJ.
Focus: Abuse of Discretion – Expert Testimony
Plaintiffs ask this court to reverse a judgment dismissing medical negligence claims based on an unsuccessful sterilization procedure and a subsequent pregnancy and birth. Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred when it held that their expert witness did not satisfy the Daubert reliability standard codified in WIS. STAT. § 907.02(1) (2015-16) and excluded his testimony. That ruling deprived them of a necessary element of their prima facie case and was thus fatal to their claim. The trial court based its ruling on the expert’s failure, in deposition testimony, to identify a basis other than “life experience” for his opinion that the failure of the sterilization procedure was caused by negligence—specifically, by the “improper application” of a sterilization device known as a Filshie clip. We conclude that the trial court did not erroneously exercise its discretion when it excluded the plaintiffs’ expert, and we affirm.