You are here: / / THE DEFENSE EXPERT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRECLUDED FROM TESTIFYING IN THIS...
, , , ,

THE DEFENSE EXPERT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRECLUDED FROM TESTIFYING IN THIS CEILING-COLLAPSE CASE; THE MOTION TO SET ASIDE THE VERDICT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; NEW TRIAL ORDERED (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants landlord and property manager were entitled to have the liability verdict set aside in the interest of justice because the judge should not have precluded testimony by defendants’ expert. Plaintiff-tenants were injured when their apartment ceiling collapsed. The defendant expert would have testified there would have been no visible signs that the ceiling was about to collapse. The court noted that plaintiffs’ request for a Frye hearing was properly denied because the expert would have testified based upon his personal training and experience:

“[E]xpert opinion is proper when it would help to clarify an issue calling for professional or technical knowledge, possessed by the expert and beyond the ken of the typical juror” … . The expert must possess “the requisite skill, training, education, knowledge or experience from which it can be assumed that the information imparted or the opinion rendered is reliable” … . “The expert’s opinion, taken as a whole, must also reflect an acceptable level of certainty in order to be admissible” … .

Here, the defendants’ CPLR 3101(d) disclosure indicated that Yarmus [the defense expert], a professional engineer with experience in construction management and building and safety code compliance, would testify, inter alia, as to the materials and manner of construction of the ceiling at issue, as well as the manner in which ceilings so constructed may detach and collapse, allegedly, without a defect that is detectable so as to give notice of a dangerous condition. Contrary to the plaintiffs’ contention, Yarmus’s proposed testimony was neither so conclusory or speculative, nor without basis in the record, as to render it inadmissible … .

… “[T]he long-recognized rule of Frye . . . is that expert testimony based on scientific principles or procedures is admissible but only after a principle or procedure has ‘gained general acceptance’ in its specified field … . An expert opinion based on personal training and experience is not subject to a Frye analysis … . Ghazala v Shore Haven Apt. Del, LLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 03681, Second Dept 7-3-24

Practice Point; If a judge makes a mistake by precluding admissible testimony, here testimony by the defense expert, the judge has the power to set aside the verdict in the interest of justice. The Appellate Division reversed the denial of the motion to set aside the verdict.

 

You might also like
COMPLAINT SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED A CAUSE OF ACTION UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL, ISSUE NOT RAISED BELOW PROPERLY CONSIDERED ON APPEAL.
MOTION TO SUBSTITUTE THE ADMINISTRATRIX OF PLAINTIFF’S ESTATE FOR THE DECEASED PLAINTIFF PROPERLY DENIED BECAUSE THE DELAY IN SEEKING SUBSTITUTION WAS NOT EXPLAINED, THE MERITS WERE NOT DESCRIBED, AND THE EXISTENCE OF PREJUDICE WAS NOT REBUTTED, HOWEVER THE ACTION COULD NOT BE DISMISSED ABSENT THE SUBSTITUTION OF A LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE (SECOND DEPT).
Article 81 Guardianship Hearing Should Not Have Been Held in the Absence of the Alleged Incapacitated Person; Counsel Should Have Been Appointed for the Alleged Incapacitated Person
IN THIS LABOR LAW 240(1), 241(6) AND 200 ACTION, THERE WAS A QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANT WAS AN OWNER OF THE PROPERTY WHERE PLAINTIFF WAS INJURED BY A FALLING OBJECT, DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
FALLING SHEETROCK DID NOT SUPPORT A LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION.
School Failed to Demonstrate Assault on Student Was Unforeseeable—Summary Judgment Properly Denied
RECOVERY FOR INJURY TO A KITTEN SHIPPED BY AIR LIMITED TO $50 BY THE TERMS OF THE AIR WAYBILL (SECOND DEPT).
CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES NOT SUPPORTED BY ALLEGATIONS OR PLEA ALLOCUTION, NO ALLEGATION THE THREE CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON COUNTS WERE SEPARATE ACTS (SECOND DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

LABOR LAW 193 PROHIBITS AN EMPLOYER FROM REDUCING AN EMPLOYEE’S PAY TO... THE PROSECUTOR WHO ARGUED DEFENDANT’S APPEAL WAS A CLERK FOR THE TRIAL...