Sarah Budd alleged that SkyWest (Defendant) discriminated against Budd by subjecting her to a sexually hostile work environment during her employment at SkyWest’s Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport facility and retaliating against her for reporting the harassment. Budd claimed that SkyWest placed her on indefinite administrative leave as retaliation.
In response, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) filed a motion to exclude Dr. Steven H. Berger‘s anticipated opinion testimony, which challenged the Plaintiffs’ expert Dr. Kristin W. Samuelson‘s diagnoses and the results of her assessment of Budd using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—Third Edition (MMPI-3).
Psychiatry Expert Witness
Steven H. Berger is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School (1972). He has been licensed as a physician in Nevada since 2004, in California since 1999, and in 6 other states. He is board certified in General Psychiatry (1978) and Forensic Psychiatry (1985, 1998, 2005, 2013, 2019). He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association (1975) and has been a Distinguished Life Fellow since 2009. He is a member of the American Medical Association (1974) and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (1985). He served as the Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Michigan Psychiatric Society (1989-1994) and the Indiana Psychiatric Society (2001-2017).
Discussion by the Court
A. Berger has received no specialized training on PTSD
Berger opined that Samuelson’s diagnosis of Budd suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was incorrect. The EEOC contended that this opinion should be excluded, arguing that Berger was unqualified to render it and that it was irrelevant and unreliable. The Court held that Berger’s opinion and related testimony were inadmissible. He lacked the qualifications to critique Samuelson’s performance of the psychological assessments that support her diagnosis because he has never performed them himself, he is not qualified to read or interpret their resulting data, he has received no specialized training on PTSD, and he has never written on the topic.
The Court also deemed Berger’s opinion unreliable. His purported “common-sense” approach to interpreting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, did not meet the reliability standards required by Rule 702.
Furthermore, Berger claimed that the MMPI-3 assessment that Samuelson administered to Budd indicated that she over-reported some symptoms. The EEOC argued that this opinion did not occur to Berger, but to his colleague, Dr. Sarah Hall, to whom he provided Samuelson’s data. While SkyWest claimed Berger offered an independent analysis of Hall’s findings on the MMPI-3, the Court, once again, found this opinion inadmissible. It was unreliable, and rests on Berger’s common sense and life experience rather than an independent analysis of Hall’s findings. Moreover, the Court decided that Berger—who had never administered the MMPI-3 and was unable to read its test data—is unqualified both to opine on Budd’s MMPI-3 assessment and to independently analyze Hall’s MMPI-3 findings.
B. Berger draws impermissible legal conclusions
Berger stated that Budd failed to mitigate her symptoms and that her litigation stress was not compensable. The EEOC contended that Berger made impermissible conclusions of fact and law, while SkyWest argued that his testimony would help the jury understand the evidence. The Court determined these opinions were inadmissible as well. Berger was unqualified to offer legal conclusions, and his reliance on common sense and life experience rendered his opinions unreliable.
Held
The Court granted the EEOC’s motion to exclude Defendant’s expert witness, Steven H. Berger.
Key Takeaway:
Berger has received no specialized training on PTSD, and he has never written on the topic. Certain opinions offered by Berger rest on what he acknowledges are his common sense and life experience, and Hall’s findings, which he did not independently analyze. The Court did not admit his testimony.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission V. Skywest Airlines Inc |
| Docket Number: | 3:22cv1807 |
| Court: | United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division |
| Order Date: | October 18, 2024 |
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