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High court gives jury leeway in testing evidence

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a jury may physically test the theory of expert witnesses to help it reach a verdict.

The court upheld a $100,000 judgment for Don Little, who broke an ankle when he fell from a ladder he claimed was defective.

At the trial in Reno, Little presented registered mechanical engineer Lindley Manning as an expert witness. Manning testified that he conducted experiments on the ladder and found it would collapse if it was touched in a certain way.

The jury, when it received the case, conducted its own test on the ladder to see if Manning's theory was right. It then returned the verdict in favor of Little against Krause Inc. that manufactured the ladder and Home Depot that sold the product.

Krause and Home Depot appealed and the court said they presented a novel legal question about whether jurors may reconstruct an expert witness's experiment on a product.

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