7th Circuit Upholds Exclusion of Testimony re Disabled Employee's Capabilities

In upholding a jury verdict rejecting claims of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the exclusion of expert testimony regarding the ability of a one-handed employee to operate a high-speed document scanner at the required level of proficiency. In a pretrial ruling, the district court permitted the expert to testify on the capacity of one-handed personnel in general to operate the machine, but not to opine on the ability of the specific employee to do so, because the expert had not personally observed the employee operating the scanner. Following that ruling, the employee received training on the machine and was videotaped operating the scanner for eight hours. On the first day of trial, the employee moved for reconsideration of the earlier evidentiary ruling, on the ground that the expert could now rely on review of the videotape. The trial court refused to reconsider, and the jury found for the defendant. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit upheld the trial court's determination that the expert's employee-specific opinion would not assist the trier of fact, because jury could evaluate the videotape for itself. The panel also upheld the trial court's alternative holding that the opinion was inadmissible insofar as it relied on a videotape not disclosed in pretrial discovery as forming part of the basis for the expert's opinion. See Hoffman v. Caterpillar, Inc., No. 03-1604 (7th Cir. May 11, 2004) (Posner, Easterbrook, & Kanne, JJ.).