Clyder, Switzer Persuade Eighth Circuit to Exclude Expert Witness
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP partners Patrick P. Clyder and Joseph P. Switzer successfully persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit last month that a district court properly excluded the plaintiff’s expert witness and awarded summary judgment in favor of their manufacturing and retailer clients.
Injured while using a hand-held spiral saw, the plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri that the saw was defective because its handle spontaneously detached from its body.
The defendant manufacturer and retailer sought to exclude a mechanical engineer that the plaintiff had retained as an expert witness. The judge granted that motion and the Eighth Circuit affirmed, ruling that the expert’s offered opinion “did not fit the facts of this case.”
