Rule 703: Bases of Opinion Testimony by Experts
| Publication year | 1992 |
| Pages | 691 |
| Citation | Vol. 21 No. 4 Pg. 691 |
1992, April, Pg. 691. Rule 703: Bases of Opinion Testimony by Experts
C.R.E. Rule 703 describes three ways a witness can obtain information to support an expert opinion: (1) facts and data by first-hand observation, (2) what is seen and heard in the courtroom or by responding to a hypothetical question and (3) facts and data outside the record that are of the type reasonably relied on by experts in the same field.(fn1)
The admissibility of expert opinion evidence based on first-hand knowledge, facts learned at trial or assumed facts of a hypothetical question rarely present unique or troublesome issues for counsel or the court. However, when the expert's opinion is based on information obtained outside of court that is either inadmissible or not admitted into evidence, careful scrutiny of the evidence by the court is necessary and appropriate. In this circumstance, the standard for admissibility is whether the information (facts, data or other expert opinions)(fn2) that provides the foundation for the opinion is of a type reasonably relied on by experts in the particular field at issue.(fn3)
It is the job of the court to decide whether the proffered opinion stems from information that meets this standard.(fn4) In addition, the court must be satisfied that the foundation for the opinion is sufficiently trustworthy to make reliance thereon reasonable.(fn5)
Assume the issue is the case of a warehouse fire resulting in the death of a firefighter.(fn6) In a wrongful death action against the defendant, Bob Jones, the plaintiff, calls an arson expert from the local arson squad, who arrived on the scene about twenty minutes after the first firefighter arrived. His opinion is that the fire was deliberately set. In support, he relies on oral statements made to him by firefighters at the scene. They described their observations of the conduct and nature of the fire during the first few minutes of fighting the fire. Such statements are customarily relied on by arson investigators because the information represents the observations of trained and experienced firefighters, made pursuant to a business duty to report, and the information is sufficiently trustworthy to make reliance thereon reasonable.
In addition, the expert relies on the results of laboratory...
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