Judge Bars Memory Expert from Testifying in Mesothelioma Trial
Mesothelioma is an illness that strikes decades after asbestos exposure. Because so much time goes by, most people don’t experience symptoms or get diagnosed until they’re elderly. This can make remembering details a challenge and provides asbestos companies with an opening to question the accuracy of their testimony. In a recent case, a manufacturer attempting to use a memory expert to demean a victim’s deposition was defeated by the widow pursuing justice on his behalf on his behalf.
Delaware Mesothelioma Widow Objects to Memory Expert’s Testimony
After her husband Marvin died of mesothelioma in 2021, Ladonna Sue Braxton filed a lawsuit against several companies, including J-M Manufacturing, which made asbestos-containing pipes that he’d installed throughout his career. The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Delaware. When the company provided the court with its defense witnesses, the list included Dr. Charles Weaver, a noted memory retention expert frequently used to speak to the reliability of memory.
Mrs. Braxton filed a motion with the court, asking that Dr. Weaver’s testimony be barred. She asserted that any suggestion of memory issues would impact the jury’s understanding of the evidence and would invade their ability to weigh the evidence in an unbiased way.
Judge Grants Mesothelioma Widow’s Petition
The panel of Delaware judges heard arguments from both sides, and though the asbestos company denied that the memory expert’s testimony would raise doubts about the accuracy of the mesothelioma victim’s memory, they decided in favor of Mrs. Braxton. They said that the suggestion that memories from decades ago could be faulty would impugn the testimony that the victim had given, thus shifting the jury’s ability to only weigh the evidence that was presented to them.
Judge Francis J. Jones, Jr. summed up the conclusion that he and his colleagues had reached, and that the mesothelioma widow had put forth in her filing: “It is the jury’s role to assess a witness’s credibility. J-M Manufacturing may certainly attack Braxton’s memory on cross-examination and discuss evidence produced at trial relating to this issue during closing argument; however, it may not use an expert witness to do so.”
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