General Electric Company, et al. v. Robert K. Joiner et Ux. (522 U.S. 136)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 15, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 522 U.S. 136 · 118 S. Ct. 512
- Decided
- December 15, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari in this case to determine what standard an appellate court should apply in reviewing a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude expert testimony under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U. S. 579 (1993). We hold that abuse of discretion is the appropriate standard. We apply this standard and conclude that the District Court in this case did not abuse its discretion when it excluded certain proffered expert testimony. I Respondent Robert Joiner began work as an electrician in the Water & Light Department of Thomasville, Georgia (City), in 1973. This job required him to work with and around the City’s electrical transformers, which used a mineral-oil-based dielectric fluid as a coolant. Joiner often had to stick his hands and arms into the fluid to make repairs. The fluid would sometimes splash onto him, occasionally getting into his eyes and mouth. In 1983 the City discovered that the fluid in some of the transformers was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s). PCB’s are widely considered to be hazardous to human health. Congress, with limited exceptions, banned the production and sale of PCB’s in 1978. See 90 Stat. 2020, 15 U. S. C. § 2605(e)(2)(A). Joiner was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer in 1991. He sued petitioners in Georgia state court the following…
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