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Homeowner sues BatteryCo after a home fire allegedly started in a lithium battery pack. Homeowner offers Dr. Lin, an electrical engineer who has studied battery failures for 18 years. Dr. Lin inspected the burned pack, reviewed photographs of the scene, tested three exemplar packs, and used a published failure-analysis method to conclude that an internal short in BatteryCo's pack more likely caused the fire than the nearby space heater.
BatteryCo moves to exclude Dr. Lin. It argues that she has never designed this exact battery model, that only three exemplar packs were tested, that her report was prepared for litigation, and that she cannot rule out every other possible ignition source. Homeowner responds that Dr. Lin used accepted failure-analysis steps and explained why the burn pattern and cell damage were inconsistent with the heater as the origin.
How should the court analyze the admissibility of Dr. Lin's expert opinion under Rule 702? Discuss qualification, sufficient facts or data, reliable principles and methods, reliable application, and helpfulness.