On September 30, 2021 at approximately 4:14 p.m., Defendant Marcus D. Jethrow, was operating a 2021 Volvo 760 tractor-trailer owned by Defendant Keep Trucking, LLC (Defendant Keep Trucking) traveling northbound on US 61 Hwy in Marion County, Missouri. At the same time, Keith Triplett (decedent) was operating a 1988 International Harvester grain hauler traveling east on County Road 338 in the process of crossing US 61 Hwy. The vehicles collided, and Triplett died as a result.
Triplett’s wife asserted claims of negligence in hiring, training, supervising, retaining, and entrusting Jethrow against Defendant Keep Trucking.
Plaintiffs asked the Court to exclude the testimony of the Defendants’ retained accident reconstruction expert witness, Kevin T. Johnson, for both Rule 26(a)(2)(B) and Daubert reasons.
Accident Reconstruction Expert Witness
Kevin Turner Johnson is accredited by A.C.T.A.R., the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction, testifies as an expert witness, and trains others in the accident reconstruction community. His 10 years of law enforcement experience, which included over 500 collisions investigated on-scene, lends additional perspective to collision analysis and police investigations.
Discussion by the Court
First, Plaintiffs alleged that Johnson performed an avoidability calculation of what would have occurred if Jethrow had been traveling at exactly the posted speed limit of 65 m.p.h. and then suppressed it, not complying with required disclosures in Rule 26(a)(2)(B).
Johnson analyzed multiple data points to reach his conclusions in this case which would include but are not limited to: physical evidence on the roadway, damage patterns, distances traveled, electronic data from the vehicle showing speeds and braking, and the video of the collision and the event prior thereto.
Johnson’s report contained his analysis of available data and after performing accident reconstruction calculations, determined that Defendant Jethrow’s speed did not cause the accident. Plaintiffs presented no evidence that Johnson or Defendants suppressed anything here or that they did not comply with required disclosures in Rule 26(a)(2)(B). Therefore, the Court refused to exclude his opinion on Plaintiffs’ first point of argument.
Plaintiffs also took issue with the perception-response time analysis done and the traffic standards applied. Johnson focused his reconstruction analysis on a moment in time that the decedent was a hazard — i.e. when he was in the median failing to yield. Plaintiffs’ expert, meanwhile, focused his reconstruction analysis on a ten second window prior to the collision. Just because these analyses are different, the Court held that challenges to the factual basis of Johnson’s testimony go to credibility and the weight of the testimony which are subjects that may be raised during cross-examination.
Held
The Court denied Plaintiff’s motion to exclude the testimony of Defendants’ expert Kevin Johnson.
Key Takeaway
Challenges to the factual basis of Johnson’s testimony go to the credibility of the testimony, not the admissibility, and it is up to the opposing party to examine the factual basis for the opinion in cross-examination. Only if the expert’s opinion is so fundamentally unsupported that it can offer no assistance to the jury must such testimony be excluded.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Triplett V. Keep Trucking, LLC |
| Docket Number: | 2:25cv1 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Northern Division |
| Order Date: | June 25, 2026 |
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