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Lewis v. Alfa Laval Separation6/4/1998
imony under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 509 U.S. 579 [113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469] (1993). We hold that abuse of discretion is the appropriate standard." 522 U.S. at 138-139, 118 S.Ct. at 515, 139 L.Ed.2d at 514.
Thus, the abuse of discretion standard of review applies when appellate courts review trial court decisions to admit or exclude expert scientific evidence in accordance with Daubert.
Once again, we note that an abuse of discretion connotes more than an error of law or judgment. We again note that in Huffman v. Hair Surgeon, Inc. (1985), 19 Ohio St.3d 83, 87, 19 OBR 123, 126-127, 482 N.E.2d 1248, 1252, the court wrote as follows that an abuse of discretion involves a result "palpably and grossly violative of fact and logic":
"The term discretion itself involves the idea of choice, of an exercise of the will, of a determination made between competing considerations. In order to have an `abuse' in reaching such determination, the result must be so palpably and grossly violative of fact and logic that it evidences not the exercise of will but perversity of will, not the exercise of judgment but defiance thereof, not the exercise of reason but rather of passion or bias."
Thus, an abuse of discretion will not be found when the reviewing court simply could maintain a different opinion were it deciding the issue de novo. Rather, an abuse of discretion indicates an attitude that is unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable. AAAA Enterprises, Inc. v. River Place Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 157, 161, 553 N.E.2d 597, 601.
In the case sub judice, we find no abuse of discretion with the trial court's decision to admit Dr. Brookshire's testimony. Although we might have chosen to exclude Dr. Brookshire's testimony, we find nothing unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable with the trial court's decision to admit Dr. Brookshire's testimony. We note that Dr. Brookshire's testimony arguably supports the scientific validity and relevance of his methodology of calculating the monetary value of appellee's loss of enjoyment of life's pleasurable activities. Dr. Brookshire testified that his methodology has been the subject of one hundred articles published in the economics literature. Dr. Brookshire compared his figure of the value of human life with figures from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Appellant presented no evidence to prove that Dr. Brookshire's methodology was unscientific, not generally accepted, or otherwise infirm.
We acknowledge that although appellant presented no evidence to prove that Dr. Brookshire's methodology was flawed, appellant cited various federal district court cases that excluded willingness-to-pay hedonic damages testimony by Stan Smith, an economist who apparently co-authored Economic/Hedonic Damages: The Practice Book for Plaintiff and Defense Attorneys in 1990 with Dr. Brookshire.' See Kurncz v. Honda N. Am, Inc. (W.D.Mich.1996), 166 F.R.D. 386; Ayers v. Robinson (N.D.Ill.1995),887 F.Supp. 1049; Sullivan v. U.S. Gypsum Co. (D.Kan.1994), 862 F.Supp. 317; Mercado v. Ahmed (N.D.111.1991), 756 F.Supp. 1097, affirmed in (C.A.7, 1992), 974 F.2d 863. We agree with appellant that Stan Smith's proposed testimony in those cases bears strikingly similarity to Dr. Brookshire's testimony in the case sub judice.
We also agree with appellant that those cases provide cogent reasons for excluding Dr. Brookshire's testimony in the case sub judice. In Kurncz, the court noted that the willingness-to-pay methodology "values life or the enjoyment of life according to how much people are willing to pay for safer living." T
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