De Saracho v. Custom Food Machinery, Inc.

Opinion by Judge PREGERSON; Dissent by Judge BRIGHT.

This appeal requires us to review four procedural decisions made by the district court before, during, and after a jury trial that resulted in a $12.5 million verdict against defendants. Defendants contend that the district court erred in denying (1) a motion in limine seeking dismissal of one plaintiff; (2) a motion to strike expert testimony; (3) a motion for a new trial; and (4) a motion for relief from judgment. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the district court’s denial of all four motions.

I

Plaintiffs in this suit are Eureka Can-ners Group, S.A. (“ECG”), Maria De Sar-acho, and Eureka Mexicana, S.A. (“Mexi-cana”). Defendants are Custom Food Machinery, Inc. (“Custom”), Fred Avalli (“Avalli”), and Ron McNeil, Sr. (“McNeil”). ECG is a Mexican corporation that was formed in 1993 by Maria De Saracho, Mexicana’s owner Cesar De Saracho, and Avalli to process and can tomatoes in Sinaloa, Mexico. Custom is a California corporation that "sold food processing equipment to ECG. McNeil is Custom’s president and controlling shareholder.

Shortly after its formation, ECG took out three loans from Banco de…

dissenting:

In this case, the Plaintiffs recovered a verdict of 12.5 million dollars. Included in the damage calculation was testimony of the Plaintiffs’ expert, Stephen Degnan, who calculated that the Plaintiffs owed BanRural approximately 11.4 million dollars. Over objection, the trial court admitted this evidence that the jury could use in measuring the Plaintiffs’ damages.

It is now known that BanRural’s claim, calculated six months after trial, does not exceed 5.5 million dollars. In my view, one does not prove a bank debt such as this one by having an expert witness testify as to the estimated amount of the loan. A bank’s debtor should either testify as to the amount of the bank’s demand or produce evidence from the bank of the amount of the debt. Neither was done here.

The trial court improperly admitted the expert testimony establishing an inflated bank debt that produced a windfall for the Plaintiffs’ damages. Expert testimony based on incorrect underlying facts should be excluded. See United States v. City of Miami 115 F.3d 870 , 873 (11th Cir.1997); see also Bradley v. Armstrong Rubber Co., 130 F.3d 168, 177 (5th Cir.1997).

I would grant the Defendant a new trial on…