Danny Kinley and Wife v. Tennessee State

Wm. H. D. FONES, J. Plaintiffs were awarded a recovery in the trial court under the windstorm coverage of their homeowner's policy issued by defendant. The Court of Appeals held that the two witnesses offered as experts to establish that the damage to their home was caused by windstorm, were not qualified, and that without their testimony there was no evidence to support their claim, and the suit was dismissed. We granted a T.R.A.P. Rule 11 appeal to consider the competence of plaintiffs' witnesses as experts and if incompetent whether dismissal or a new trial was the appropriate Disposition. We agree that plaintiffs' witnesses were not qualified to give opinion evidence upon the particular subject of inquiry involved here, to-wit whether or not a wind storm caused sections of cinder block foundation walls to collapse. The error of the trial court in admitting and relying upon unqualified expert evidence requires reversal and remand for a new trial.