In Get the Most From Engineering Experts, Christopher L. Brinkley writes on how thorough preparation of engineering expert witnesses is the key to winning your case. In this excerpt Brinkley discusses the reliability of the expert witness’s work.
You also must prepare engineering experts to address the jurisdiction’s substantive law with respect to the existence of a defect. These standards vary widely from state to state. For example, in West Virginia, a product is defective if it is not reasonably safe for its intended use, giving the general state of the art at the time the product was made. But in Georgia, a defect is evaluted by balancing the risk inherent in the product against its utility, taking into consideration a wide range of factors.
More to follow…Excerpted from Trial Magazine, November 2007