SKETCHES OF COURT: Hearing examines engineer’s qualification as expert witness
In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Genine Edwards listens as defense attorney Francis Scahill (standing), of the law firm Picciano & Scahill, seeks to qualify an expert witness during a Frye hearing before the motor vehicle accident trial Uruchima v. Working Girl Taxi Inc. Court clerk Noreen Feehan is seated at right.
The plaintiff, represented by Jason Linden (seated, left) of the law firm Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro & Halperin, was a passenger in the back seat of a yellow cab in September 2009. The defendant driver lost control of the vehicle in a one-car accident during a rainy late evening on the wet upper-level roadway of the Queensboro Bridge. The plaintiff, who has admitted to not wearing a seatbelt, sustained injuries for which he is claiming pain and suffering and the need for future medical expenses. Liability was decided by summary judgment.
At issue before the start of the damages-only trial was the determination of admissibility of expert witness testimony. Edwards queried the defense’s biomechanical engineer during the Frye hearing about the general acceptance of his methodology in the professional community. The judge ruled against allowing his testimony as a biomechanical engineering expert witness, but allowed his testimony on general engineering principles.
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