Ross v. Housing Authority

McDonald, j.

Unlike the bullet or the misplaced banana peel, the effect of toxic substances on the body is often subtle and slow, leaving cause uncertain. This gap of understanding is often bridged through science, probability, and inference from provable facts. As a result, expert testimony has become central to toxic tort litigation.1 But not every inference is provable in court by expert opinion testimony. Nor need it be.

This case arises out of an attempt to use expert opinion testimony of a pediatrician to establish the defendant’s building as the source of the plaintiffs lead exposure and…