Watkins v. Telsmith, Inc.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

Loretta Watkins sued Telsmith, Inc., after a conveyor manufactured by Telsmith’s predecessor caused the death of her husband, Eugene Watkins. Telsmith removed the case to federal court, and the case proceeded to trial under the theory that the conveyor embodied an unreasonably dangerous design. Upon a motion by Telsmith, the district court heard outside the jury’s presence and then excluded the testimony of Watkins’s proffered expert under Fed. Rule of Evidence 702. As this exclusion was fatal to the plaintiffs case, the district court also granted Telsmith’s…