State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. Sawyer

1 Citing case

  1. Potomac Electric v. Smith

    79 Md. App. 591 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1989)   Cited 34 times
    Holding that award of funeral expenses in personal representative's action satisfied the compensatory damage predicate for a punitive damage award on survival claim

    Furthermore, an expert is not required to possess direct personal knowledge of a matter in order to express an opinion. State Farm Fire Cas. Co. v. Sawyer, 522 So.2d 248, 250-52 (Ala. 1988) (expert witness allowed to give an opinion even though hypothetical question was based on photographs and expert had not personally inspected scene at time of fire); Bastian v. Laffin, 54 Md. App. 703, 712-14, 460 A.2d 623 (1983) (expert's appraisal based solely on a description of items was admissible as evidence). Just as a medical expert may base an opinion on an X-ray or as any expert may render an opinion based on a hypothetical question, so also may an expert give an opinion based on photographs.