Plaintiff, William Harrison Sims’ claims arise out of an October 24, 2019, two-vehicle collision involving Plaintiff, who was operating the 2004 BMW (“Subject BMW”). Tameca Harris-Jackson (“HarrisJackson”) was operating the Hyundai that collided with the Subject BMW. Plaintiff alleges he sustained “severe, permanent, and life-altering injuries” due to the driver-side Takata airbag unexpectedly rupturing and shooting “metal shrapnel into his face and body.”
Defendants procured and installed the airbag inflator during the process of “designing, manufacturing, assembling, and producing” the vehicle. Plaintiff brought this action for damages against both Defendants BMW of North America (“BMW NA”) and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (“BMW AG”), alleging strict liability and negligence from procuring and installing the airbag.
BMW of North America, LLC and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (The
“BMW Defendants”) requested the Court to preclude the injury causation
testimony of Plaintiff’s neurological expert Paul Buechel, M.D., P.A. because he is not qualified to offer injury causation opinions.
Neurology Expert Witness
Paul Buechel is a board-certified neurologist with over 33 years of experience. His medical degree is from Syracuse. His residency was done at University of Kentucky.
Discussion by the Court
Defendants argued that Buechel is not a biomechanical engineer and that sufficient facts and data do not support his opinions, nor are they based on a reliable methodology. They also averred that Buechel did “no testing” without specifying what testing should have been performed. And Defendants contended that Buechel failed to rule out contact with the steering wheel or dash as the cause of Plaintiff’s neurological injuries. As such, Defendants characterized Buechel’s opinions as pure ipse dixit of an expert based on too great of an analytical gap.
In the introductory section of their Motion, Defendants argued that Buechel testified at deposition that Plaintiff could have sustained “a traumatic brain injury from other blunt trauma to the head.” They contended that this undercuts the reliability of his opinion that the defective inflator and the shrapnel surgically removed from Plaintiff caused his TBI. Defendants also cited Buechel’s deposition, in which he stated he did not inspect the shrapnel. And the defense avers that Plaintiff’s nasal septal deviation, which his ear, nose, and throat physician felt was secondary to striking the wheel or dash, contradicts Buechel’s causation opinion.
Buechel is a board-certified neurologist who conducted two independent medical evaluations of Plaintiff one year apart. He offered an assessment of Plaintiff’s injuries and limitations based on the medical records, patient history, and his independent medical evaluations. Buechel then outlined Plaintiff’s future necessary and reasonable medical needs.
Defendants did not contest Buechel’s qualifications to render these opinions, the reliability of the principles and methodology employed by Buechel, or that his testimony about Plaintiff’s injuries and future medical needs is helpful to the jury.
Analysis
Defendants only contested whether Buechel’s opinion that, “[r]egarding causality, in the greatest medical probability, it is [his] opinion that each of these listed diagnoses and symptoms are indeed directly related to the injuries he sustained in the vehicle airbag explosion which occurred on 10/24/19.”
At deposition, Buechel clarified that even assuming the ENT is correct that Plaintiff’s nasal septal deviation was caused by Plaintiff’s face making contact with the wheel or dash, this is still due to the defective inflator sending shrapnel through the airbag and preventing it from protecting the Plaintiff. Therefore, injuries sustained by contacting the wheel or dash are caused by the airbag exploding. Buechel did not concede that his injury causation opinion is unreliable because the ENT found a septal deviation could have been caused by striking the wheel or dash. To the contrary, Buechel observed that Plaintiff’s nasal bridge exam “looked well on the photographs,” and typically, one would expect a laceration or a bridge abrasion when the patient’s face strikes the wheel or dash.
The Court finds the methodology employed by Buechel to support his injury causation opinion is the product of reliable principles and methods properly applied to the facts of the case. As Plaintiff observes in his response, Buechel reviewed the medical records and evidence collected from the scene. He considered the nature of the injuries as “an indication of the size of the shrapnel” along with the “depth of penetration.” Buechel does not need to be trained as a biomechanical engineer to render his opinions, despite Defendants’ bald assertion.
Held
The Court denied the Defendants’ motion to preclude the testimony of Dr. Paul Buechel.
Key Takeaway:
Buechel does not need to be trained as a biomechanical engineer to render his opinions, despite Defendants’ bald assertion. Buechel’s opinions rest upon his training and experience, combined with the medical evidence showing the size of lacerations caused by the shrapnel and the depth of penetration. This is more than adequate to satisfy Daubert and its progeny.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Sims V. BMW Of North America LLC |
| Docket Number: | 6:22cv1685 |
| Court: | United States District Court, Florida Middle |
| Order Date: | January 13, 2025 |
Leave a Reply