Rita Thomas v. Publix Super Markets, Inc.

FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MARCH 8, 2012
JOHN LEY
CLERK
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 11-13816
Non-Argument Calendar
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D. C. Docket No. 1:09-cv-01933-SCJ
RITA THOMAS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
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(March 8, 2012)
Before TJOFLAT, BARKETT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
This is a personal injury case. Plaintiff Rita Jones was injured on a Sunday

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afternoon, March 15, 2009, while in the produce department of a Publix
supermarket. While she was reaching for an onion she encountered an
unidentified odor which caused respiratory irritation; she fell to her knees
coughing and vomited. After the parties joined issue and engaged in discovery,
Publix moved the district court to exclude the opinion testimony of Jones’s expert
witness under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113
S.Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed.2d 469 (1993), and for summary judgment. The court, in a
comprehensive order dated July 21, 2011, granted both motions.
Jones appeals the summary judgment and the court’s order excluding her
expert’s opinion testimony. We find no abuse of discretion in the district court’s
exclusion of the expert’s testimony and therefore affirm its ruling. And we find no
error in the the district court’s ruling that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is
inapplicable in this case and in its decision granting Publix summary judgment.
AFFIRMED.
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