WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) – A Delaware judge has denied the exclusion of the defendant's experts and the defendant's motion to dismiss a case involving unused gift card balances.
Delaware Judge Paul Wallace, on the bench of the Delaware Superior Court, issued two rulings on Aug. 29 denying the plaintiffs' motion to exclude testimonials of defendant's experts Jennifer Borden, James Ryan and Brian Duffy, in the lawsuit filed by the state of Delaware and William French against Card Compliant LLC. A motion for a summary judgment that was denied on April 30 was confirmed with a new denial.
The State and French sued Card Compliant, alleging that the company, in conjunction with retailers, "entered into a contractual scheme designed to deprive Delaware of hundreds of millions of dollars to which it was lawfully entitled under Delaware's Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Law (DUPL)," citing unredeemed gift card balances considered as "abandoned property."
Using the Delaware Rule of Evidence 702 that governs the use of expert testimonies, Wallace analyzed each of the witnesses, based on criteria such as knowledge, relevance, and no creation of prejudice. He denied the exclusions, finding their opinions were "reliable" and "relevant" to the case.
When analyzing Duffy's qualifications, Wallace praised the witness' expertise towards the case.
"Mr. Duffy's experience as an auditor of companies with gift card programs equips him with sufficient expertise to testify regarding CardFacts's proposed accounting entries," Wallace said.
While analyzing Borden's exclusion, Wallace challenged the plaintiffs' claims that her opinion was not "sufficiently grounded in science," by stating that "Ms. Borden's opinions on common practice in the unclaimed property industry are not scientific in nature, but specialized knowledge appropriate for expert testimony."
In regards to Ryan's opinion, per the ruling, Wallace pointed that "Mr. Ryan's opinions are rooted in his substantial experience in the field of unclaimed property."
Delaware Superior Court case number N13C-06-289 PRW CCLD