Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

Environmental expert Christoph Menke, professor at King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Bangkok, says the Philippine government needs to develop a wide ranging plan to manage severe flooding. The expert said more water channels in agricultural areas are needed to stop flooding in residential neighborhoods.

In Nightclub & Bar Security: Death of a Nightclub nightclub security expert, Chris McGoey, CPP, CSP, CAM, writes:

Nightclubs and Bars with a bad reputation have been forced to close their doors for failing to control assaultive crime on the premises….

As you can imagine, a nightclub that markets itself to young adults in an effort to become the next hotspot is destined to have a few conduct problems.

Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on truck driver qualifications, federal motor vehicle safety standards, as well as related issues. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, demanding they address serious concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The letter comes in response to a report published by the Inspector General on the cross border trucking “pilot” program. The IG’s report showed that FMCSA was not yet prepared to launch a pilot program with the strict level of scrutiny and monitoring of safety performance mandated by Congress. The agency has yet to transmit a report to Congress outlining the steps taken to address the shortfalls.

Read more: defazio.house.gov.

Psychology expert witness Walter Quijano testified in the murder trial of Duane Buck whose execution has now been blocked by the US Supreme Court. The high court ruled that Quijano had introduced racial bias into the case in 2000.

On their website, Internet For Lawyers announces ProPublica Provides Database of Payments to Physicians by Pharmaceutical Companies

ProPublica, the “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest,” has created a searchable database of payments made by pharmaceutical companies to doctors – usually as compensation for presentations the doctors make that discuss the companies’ drugs. While this information is not part of the public record, some pharmaceutical companies have begun posting this information on their own Web sites. ProPublica has gathered this information from these various sources to create its searchable database. The database is searchable by doctor’s name. It can also be filtered by state.

Knowing whether the opposition’s expert witness (or one you’re considering) has received payments from a particular drug manufacturer could be invaluable.

Carbon monoxide expert witness Russell Keeler, PE, writes:

The push for greater and greater energy conservation has led to a variety of unintended consequences. One of these is that very high efficiency gas burning appliances such as furnaces and boilers can produce high, and perhaps toxic levels of carbon monoxide (CO). High efficiency appliances produce relatively low flue gas temperatures. These low temperatures can cause condensation of the flue gas. If the wrong type of flue is installed, the flue will corrode, and flue gas may leak into the room where the appliance is installed. Death from carbon monoxide poisoning has resulted in a number of cases over the last few years.

Burners need to be checked every year to determine the amount of carbon monoxide present. Anything over a trace amount of CO requires the retuning or replacement of the burner.

The Tennessee Supreme Court decision Shipley vs. Williams made changes governing medical expert testimony in malpractice cases. The case dealt with whether a doctor may testify on standard of care in the local community when he is from out of the area.

In the legal battle with Motorola, Google Inc. alleges that one of the expert witnesses has seen the source code of the Android operating system and has asked the US International Trade Commission to stop him from testifying.

Sexual harassment expert witness Brett Sokolow testified this week in the $3 million breach of contract lawsuit trial against The University of the South – Sewanee. Sokolow, President of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, consults on college relating to sexual harassment and assault.

Federal multi-district litigation will commence January 2012 against drug manufacturers of the contraceptives Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella. Expert witness discovery includes reports written by pharmacology and regulatory experts.

Read more: injuryboard.com.