W.Va. High Court Readmits Experts and Vacates Summary Judgment in CSX Diesel Suit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has reversed summary judgment for CSX Transportation Inc. and reinstated three experts who testified for a railroad employee in a diesel fume exposure suit, saying the trial court went too far in evaluating the admissibility of expert testimony.

In a lengthy opinion on admissibility of expert witnesses, the high court said Nov. 13 that litigants sometimes “abuse the limited resources of our trial judges by demanding full-blown evidentiary hearings” on expert testimony, and its opinion in this case “is intended to make unequivocally clear that the admissibility principles under Daubert/Wilt …