Testimony on Discriminatory Sales Lead System Stands

(See dauberttracker.com for a case documents and other details)

Motion Denied

In this case, the Plaintiff Eva A. Ramirez, a Hispanic, sued Defendant Olympic Health Management Systems, Inc. for employment discrimination.  The Defendant sells life insurance policies. While she was employed at the company, she alleges that the Defendant treated her differently than non-Hispanic employees.  She also alleged that after she complained of racist behavior at the company, she was constructively discharged.

One of the Plaintiff's claims was that because of her race she was never given sales leads in spite of being one of the top sales executives. The company had a policy that award sales leads to employees with the most sales.  She also contends that the company hurt her sales potential by only giving her Hispanic leads.

To help calculate the economic damages attributed to Plaintiff's alleged lost sales leads, Plaintiff retained Dr. Lori A. Geddes, Ph.D., an economist.   Dr. Geddes used a statistical techniques to determine the number of sales leads (which would turn into sales at some point) that Ms. rameriez should have recieved if the company was acting in a race neutral manner.  Dr. Geddes performed a sales-and-lead analysis after utilizing econometric statistical analysis to calculate total lost leads.  She applied correlation and standard regression analysis to demonstrate that the majority of Plaintiff's leads were from customers with Hispanic sounding surnames. 

The Defendants filed a Daubert motion to exclude the testimony of Dr. Geddes on the grounds that she was not qualified to serve as an expert, she did base her report upon any facts and neglected to use sound methodology. It was also alleged that her testimony would not assist the trier of fact and would prejudice the Defendant's case. The Court noted that Dr. Geddes was qualified to testify as an expert in this case and that her testimony was both reliable as well as relevant to the case. 

The motion to exclude was denied.

Complaint

Plaintiff's Response to Daubert

Court Order on Daubert

Case Details:

 Ramirez vs. Olympic Health Mgmt. Sys.

Washington, Eastern District

NO. CV-07-3044-EFS

EDWARD F. SHEA, United States District Judge.

Date of Decision: 4/17/2009