A district judge in Oklahoma noted the expert witness’ extensive background in event safety at live events but barred him from testifying because he never inspected the area where Plaintiff fell and ignored relevant statutes and codes.
Plaintiff Boulac sought damages for injuries she allegedly sustained at the Bank of Oklahoma Center (“BOK Center”) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Boulac was covering the NCAA Basketball Tournament as a member of the CBS Sports crew. She tripped on a cheerleader mat in a walkway.
On February 26, 2024, Defendant SMG identified Steven A. Adelman as an expert to provide an opinion on whether SMG breached or satisfied its duty of care owed to Boulac under Oklahoma law.
Adelman concluded that SMG met its duty of care by ensuring the mat was wholly outside the marked walkway designated for production workers and Boulac failed to meet her duty to maintain reasonable situational awareness. In other words, Boulac’s breach of her own duty of care was a proximate cause of her unfortunate injuries.
Plaintiff Boulac contended that Adelman should be permitted to testify because he lacked the knowledge, skill, experience, or education to qualify as an expert; Adelman’s opinions did not help the jury to understand the evidence or determine the facts in issue; and Adelman’s testimony was not supported by sufficient facts or data, or the product of reliable methods.
Safety Expert Witness
Steven A. Adelman has practiced as an attorney with Adelman Law Group, PLLC, “focusing on risk and safety at live events throughout North America” since 2010. He is the vice president of an international trade association Event Safety Alliance, since 2012. He is the principal author of “Crowd Management,” “Event Security,” “Event Safety Alliance Reopening Guide,” and editor of the forthcoming “Event Safety Guide,” second edition. Adelman was also an adjunct faculty member at Arizona State University, teaching “Risk management in Venues,” and an online “Sports Facilities Management” course.
Discussion by the Court
Defendant SMG retained Adelman to offer testimony about “event safety standard of care.” Plaintiff Boulac contended Defendant SMG “was attempting to pass a litigation-experienced lawyer as an expert witness in a premises liability case.”
Qualifications
Adelman describes himself as “an authority regarding safety at live events, particularly crowd management and event security.” Adelman focuses on risk and safety at live events throughout North America. Plaintiff Boulac argued that Adelman’s “education and work history demonstrated that he lacked the necessary experience to opine on event safety standards of care or Human Factors Engineering principles and definitions.” Adelman testified to never taking any classes on live event operations or crowd management, either during school or since graduation from law school. He admitted to not having any licenses or certifications in these, or the event safety fields.
The Court, however, concluded that Adelman was qualified in the area of event safety because of his extensive background in event safety at live events, including many publications and his position as the vice-president of an international trade association.
Reliability and Relevance
The Court held that Defendant SMG failed to meaningfully satisfy its burden at each step of the Daubert analysis and instead focused solely on the supposed difference between “back of house” and “front of house” standards of care.
To begin with, Adelman’s three opinions—Defendant SMG met its duty of care, Plaintiff Boulac failed to meet her duty, and Plaintiff Boulac breached her duty of care— were all legal conclusions.
Next, the Court concluded that Adelman’s testimony would not help the jury understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue. As Adelman acknowledged (and as Plaintiff Boulac pointed out), “there is no standard of care that requires venue operators to store thick mats any particular distance away from brightly marked paths of travel in a back of house production area such as BOK Center during an NCAA tournament.”
The Court also agreed with Plaintiff Boulac that testimony on situational awareness did not require specialized knowledge and would be commonly known and easily understood by the jury.
The Court held that Adelman’s opinions were based upon the various court documents filed in this case (complaint, motion for summary judgment, discovery responses), BOK Center contracts, incident reports and depositions. Adelman never inspected the area where Boulac fell and ignored relevant statutes and codes. In conclusion, Adelman’s testimony was not supported by sufficient facts or data, or reliable principles and methods.
Held
The Court granted the Plaintiff Boulac’s motion to exclude the testimony of Defendant’s purported expert, Steven A. Adelman.
Key Takeaways:
- Whether Defendant SMG reasonably knew or should have known of the alleged dangerous condition, and whether it acted reasonably in mitigating and protecting against the danger, are factors in determining whether an owner is liable to an invitee under Oklahoma law. This led to the Court rejecting all of Adelman’s three opinions—Defendant SMG met its duty of care, Plaintiff Boulac failed to meet her duty, and Plaintiff Boulac breached her duty of care.
- Adelman contended that Boulac failed to meet her duty to maintain reasonable situational awareness. The Court held that testimony on situational awareness did not require specialized knowledge.
- The Court found that Adelman never inspected the area where Boulac fell and ignored relevant statutes and codes. In this regard, Adelman’s testimony was based on subjective belief or unsupported speculation
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Boulac V. Smg |
| Docket Number: | 4:19cv197 |
| Court: | United States District Court, Oklahoma Northern |
| Date: | July 4, 2024 |
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