ST. LOUIS — A federal judge excluded part of the testimony by an expert witness in a personal injury lawsuit against a truck driver and his employer, Triangle Trucking Inc.
U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark partly granted the defendants' motion to exclude expert testimony and opinions of an expert witness for the plaintiff. His order also dismissed negligence per se claims in two of the counts.
Yvonne Collins-Myers filed the personal injury claim against Russell Goff and Triangle Trucking Inc. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division for an Oct. 21, 2017 accident. The complaint said Goff was driving an 18-wheeler truck and it crashed into the rear of her car, which spun out of control. She sought damages for injuries she received in the accident and for the loss of her vehicle.
She brought four counts combined against the two which included two counts of negligence, and respondeat superior and negligent entrustment against Triangle.
The defendants wanted Judge Clark to prohibit testimony from Collins-Myers expert witness, Thomas Morris. They argued she chose Morris to figure out if there was enough time and space between the two vehicles for Goff to safely stop. They argued that he admitted he didn't have enough evidence to make that decision and the findings he did make were based on assumptions. The defendants said the Court should exclude his findings since they were hypothetical and unsupported by facts.
A letter dated Jan. 14 that Morris sent the plaintiff's attorney was excluded by Judge Clark because he had already kept out an opinion by Morris that Goff wasn't paying attention or following at a safe distance. "Morris may testify to the distance needed for a truck to stop under the most extreme or unexpected set of circumstances, as he describes it," Judge Clark said in his order. "This opinion can aid the jury in giving them a context to determine if, using the facts presented at trial, Goff drove at an unsafe distance or was inattentive."
Judge Clark said defense counsel can cross-examine Morris on the assumptions he made to reach his conclusion.
In dismissing the negligence per se claims, Judge Clark agreed that Collins-Myers failed to state a claim because she failed to identify a statute or ordinance the defendants violated.
U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division case number 4:18-cv-02137 SRC