Maritime Expert Allowed to Opine on Safety Management Systems

This limitation of liability suit arises from injuries suffered by Gerald Miller while working on a materials barge, the SMI-101, owned and operated by Southwest on April 21, 2024, at the Port Aggregates Inc. ("PAI") facility in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Specifically, Miller alleged that he tripped on hydraulic hoses that ran along the deck surface of the SMI-101 while that barge was spudded down at PAI's facility. Miller filed an admiralty claim and third-party complaint against Southwest as his employer and PAI as his borrowing employer, alleging that he was entitled to damages as a Jones Act seaman injured aboard a vessel as well as under general maritime and state law.

PAI sought to exclude or limit the opinion testimony of Miller's expert witness Captain Aaron J. Williams.

Maritime Expert Witness

Captain Aaron J. Williams has extensive experience in inland towing and barge operations, including that of transporting materials through spudded deck barges.

Williams also has experience in developing and implementing safety management systems, as well as auditing existing safety programs for their effectiveness and implementation.

Get the full story on challenges to Aaron Williams' expert opinions and testimony with an in-depth Challenge Study.

Discussion by the Court

Williams offered a number of opinions on conditions aboard the SMI-101 and the applicable safety standards, such as:

Opinion 3:

"It is my opinion that Southwest Materials, Inc. failed to control the risk associated with the exposed hydraulic hoses through feasible engineering controls, administrative controls, or interim protection. It is also my opinion that Southwest Materials, Inc.'s safety management system is less stringent than [PAI]'s Written Safety Program Manual, and as applicable to its personnel, contractors, or worksite role, failed to use the hazard-identification tools available within its own safety management system manual to identify and facilitate mitigation of the risk associated with the hydraulic hoses and holes on the deck of the SMI 101."

PAI argued that Williams' testimony should be excluded or limited because he interprets the terms of PAI's Safety Program, providing legal conclusions and opinions on the ultimate issue and resolving apparent conflicts between the terms of the PAI Safety Program and the Stevedoring and Transport Service Agreement executed by Southwest and PAI. It also maintained that Williams lacked an adequate basis for his opinions, in that he provided no reliable methodology for his comparison of the PAI and Southwest safety programs or for his conclusions linking Miller's accident and PAI's safety program.

The Court agreed that contract interpretation is outside the permissible scope of Williams' testimony, and will come to its own conclusions as to which document governed PAI's duties in this matter. However, most of the safeguards provided for in Daubert are not as essential in a case such as this where a district judge sits as the trier of fact in place of a jury. Williams' testimony is well-founded and provided meaningful assistance to this Court to the extent he bases it on the assumption that the PAI Safety Program governs, which the Court will permit him to do. He is also sufficiently qualified to evaluate and compare the respective safety management systems used by Southwest and PAI, and the grounds provided in his report show adequate support for his opinions.

Held

The Court denied PAI's Daubert motion to exclude or limit the opinion testimony of Miller's witness Captain Aaron J. Williams.

Key Takeaway

Expert witnesses are still forbidden from offering legal conclusions or telling the jury what result to reach. However, most of the safeguards provided for in Daubert are not as essential in a case such as this where a district judge sits as the trier of fact in place of a jury.

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