Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

Fuel charges expert witnesses may opine on trucking transportation charges, fuel surcharges, and related topics. Transport Topics reports that U.S. commodities regulators have filed a civil lawsuit against two oil traders in Australia and California and three American and international firms over oil market manipulation in 2008, the record-high year for crude prices, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The suit says that in early 2008 the accused tried to hoard nearly two-thirds of available oil supplies, then abruptly dumped it and collected $50 million, the Times said in a front-page story.

Read more: ttnews.com.

Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on federal motor carrier safety regulations, truck maintenance, qualifications of truck drivers, and related topics. Transport Topics reports that The Missouri Department of Public Safety has suspended hours-of-service rules for motor carriers rushing to deliver relief supplies to the tornado-battered Joplin, Mo., area.

The emergency HOS waiver applies to truckers directly involved in relief or the delivery of essential services or supplies, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Read more: ttnews.com.

Florida’s new homeowners insurance laws will combat fraud which has increased since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Insurance expert David Miller, CEO of Brightway Insurance and independent agency, said change is long overdue and that recently passed state insurance laws will reduce fraud. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in fraud over the last few years,” he said. “The law is meant to clamp down on … (fraud) which does not help anyone.”

Read more: firstcoastnews.com.

While no-fault insurance laws can make the claims process a lot easier for policyholders, an insurance expert says the policy is costing drivers millions in excess auto insurance payments due to so many people taking advantage of the system. According to Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, no-fault auto insurance fraud has reached epidemic levels in New York.

The scale of fraud and abuse in New York State’s no-fault auto insurance system today remains at crisis levels,” Hartwig said. “Not only are New York’s courtrooms filled with no-fault cases, but an Insurance Research Council study found that over one in five of all downstate New York no-fault closed claims showed signs of fraud and more than one in three appeared to be inflated.

Read more: usinsuranceonline.com.

Dan Cook, a commercial real estate developer, filed a complaint in Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, PA, alleging that borough officials lost nearly all of his evidence. Of the 38 pages of expert witness testimony and exhibits as part of a request for a zoning change, 35 pages of original documents are missing, said Easton attorney Brian Monahan, who represents Cook.

“I’ve spent a whole lot of money producing evidence. They were the custodian of it, and now it’s gone. That would upset anyone,” said Dan Cook on Monday.

Read more: phillyburbs.com.

Jonathan Taylor testified in Congress as an agriculture expert witness and spoke on regulatory impediments to job creation in the Northeast. Taylor serves on the state board of directors for New York Farm Bureau. He is well-versed about the impact of costly regulations on agriculture and jobs, NYFB officials said.

American farmers compete in a global marketplace and the U.S. farms are at a disadvantage because of the regulatory costs they face compared to foreign farms “who do not have to tolerate such rigorous and expensive regulations,” Taylor told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.

Read more: thedailynewsonline.com.

Law firms in Australia are alarmed by the potential impact a UK Supreme Court decision could have on the way expert witnesses are treated in Australian courts. Slater & Gordon partner Bill Madden argues the March decision in Jones v Kaney in London could open up the door to medical and other expert witnesses who are negligent in their testimony being sued. “The decision marks a significant shift away from the protection medical experts are given in UK and Australian courts,” Madden said.

Read more: thenewlawyer.com.

After a mine subsidence forced the evacuation of homes in Dunmore Borough, PA, lawmakers invited Maurice Gardner, a subsidence investigator with the state Department of Environmental Protection, to their monthly work session. The property insurance expert answered questions from residents about Pennsylvania’s subsidence insurance program.

Mr. Gardner spoke about the details of the program, which is offered for both residential and commercial properties. In a place like Dunmore, where nearly the entire town sits atop coal mines, the insurance is “definitely worth having,” he said. Regular homeowner’s insurance typically does not cover subsidences. The DEP program is a nonprofit fund established in the early 1960s. Mr. Gardner also talked about what to expect from a subsidence. It usually happens quickly, causing a foundation to crack or shift. The deeper the mine, the wider the surface area affected, he said.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news.

AMI Insurance was a time-bomb waiting to explode, exposing how woefully ill-prepared New Zealand’s second biggest residential insurance company is to cope with a worst case catastrophe, an insurance expert says.

The Government was forced to bail out AMI with a $500 million financial guarantee after the insurer said it was at risk of not being able to pay out on all claims relating to the February 22 earthquake in Christchurch. Massey University senior insurance lecturer Michael Naylor says apart from AMI’s difficulties, New Zealand’s largely Australian-owned insurance companies are sound with strong A grade credit ratings.

Read more: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries.

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner announced Thursday that the first director of the new Federal Insurance Office (FIO) will be Michael McRaith, currently insurance director of Illinois and formerly the secretary/treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Prior to McRaith’s appointment, there was only a single spot on the FSOC panel filled by an insurance expert; that position was nonvoting. Criticism held that the FSOC was involved in matters that impacted the insurance industry without sufficient expertise on the council.

Read more: advisorone.com.