Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

U.S. federal investigators are hearing testimonies from BP and Transocean officials in a probe into the cause of the rig explosion that led to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hearings, jointly conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, started Monday and will continue through Friday in Houston.

Marine engineering expert Neil Cramond, BP’s Gulf of Mexico marine authority official, testified that Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon had dozens of maintenance issues in an audit conducted seven months before the rig blast. BP had recommended a five-day suspension of operations on the rig after the audit but later recommended that the rig be put back into service even though not all the issues had been addressed.

Read more: xinhuanet.com.

In Study Questions Use of Paid Medical Expert Witnesses in Malpractice Cases, Newswise.com writes:

Publication of the study, in the August 2010 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, arrives as a fierce debate over medical malpractice reform that began more than 20 years ago continues to rage in the U.S.. It follows closely on the heels of a survey of physicians, published in June in Archives of Internal Medicine, in which 91 percent of respondents said they believed that “physicians order more tests and procedures than needed to protect themselves from malpractice suits.”

On the opposite side of the issue, plantiffs’ attorneys and other advocates for patients who have been injured by medical malpractice have argued with equal force and considerable success against many measures that have been proposed, such as caps on damages awards, to rein in the costs of malpractice litigation and discourage the practice of “defensive medicine.”

People who use Adderall when they don’t need it can experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine, a medical expert told TMZ.Com. According to that report, “Lindsay Lohan’s Adderall dependence — the result of a medical misdiagnosis — may have been the reason she went off the rails.” The report adds “the UCLA rehab facility believe Lindsay was misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.”

Lohan’s father Michael hopes his daughter will overcome a possible addiction to prescription medication. “This Adderall stuff has got to be stopped. Seven out of ten kids in college are on this stuff and it’s no more than methamphetamine.”

Read more: nationaledger.com.

In Study Questions Use of Paid Medical Expert Witnesses in Malpractice Cases, Newswise.com writes:

A study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that 31 radiologists who reviewed the CT scans used in a medical malpractice lawsuit did not agree with the conclusions reached by four paid medical expert witnesses in the case.

This suggests that the use of radiologists who are blinded to both the medical outcome and the litigation in such cases may be a more objective way of determining whether or not the standard of care has been met, said Richard C. Semelka, MD, lead author of the study and professor of radiology in the UNC School of Medicine.

The criminal trial of the American pilots of the Legacy jet that collided with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon in 2006 moved forward this month when the judge decided he has no need to hear seven defense witnesses. Mato Grosso federal court judge Fábio Henrique Rodrigues de Moraes Fiorenzage ruled that the witnesses’ testimony was dispensable because they were either passengers on the Legacy who lacked technical knowledge or aviation specialists who did not witness the episode, according to Joel Weiss, attorney for the Legacy’s pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino.

Lepore and Paladino were at 37,000 feet when the Legacy and the 737 operating Gol Flight 1907 collided. Both aircraft were flying in accordance with ATC clearances. Four air traffic controllers are also on trial. The Legacy’s transponder was turned off for close to an hour before the collision. The judge rejected the aviation expert witnesses put forth by the defense, instead asking the Brazilian Air Force to supply someone from among its personnel to explain the ATC system.

Read more: ainonline.com.

ITC Midwest personnel and environmental expert witnesses testified earlier this month before the Iowa Utilities Board in a case involving a proposed transmission line in Dubuque County. ITC Seven Dubuque County landowners testified to their objection of the 81-mile, 345-kilovolt line running through their properties during the hearing at the Delaware County Community Center in Manchester.
Concerns included land development, human and livestock health, and gas lines already on the properties. The next hearings, during which expert witnesses for the landowners will be cross-examined, are scheduled for Oct. 5-7.

Read more: thonline.com.

In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Surveys, marketing experts at Vovic Corporation offer these ideas on writing objective questions:

Remember the adage “Garbage in, Garbage out”. Poorly worded questions will lead to suspect results and erroneous conclusions. Respondents should not be able to determine where you stand on any topic, so use nonjudgmental wording and choose neutral terms. Don’t ask leading questions such as “What do you like about your service?” but instead ask “What, if anything, do you like…?”

Remove any ambiguity in your questions. Ask one item at a time, rather than using confusing questions like “How would you rate our price and service?” Make sure to avoid industry jargon. Write from the respondent’s perspective and not your perspective. Have others proofread your questions for clarity, and consider pre-testing your survey with a segment of your audience.

In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Surveys, marketing experts at Vovic Corporation write on surveying the right number of people:

Some might consider a “census approach” to surveying, attempting to gather feedback from 100% of the population. Others take a “sampling approach”. If you are thinking of taking a census approach with your survey, consider:

• The census approach works best for populations under 1,000 individuals • It may require you to utilize incentives to boost response to the appropriate level • Make sure you invite all respondents • Use reminders and deadlines to ensure highest response rates among your population A sampling approach may be more effective for your situation. Some of the benefits of a sampling approach are as follows:

Emission requirements expert Kevin Dukesherer, owner of Progressive Transportation Services and founding member of The Clean Truck Coalition, said in a July 8 Op-Ed in The Daily Breeze that “Those interested in truly helping truck drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach should advocate relatively quick and easy improvements to drayage operations at marine terminals, not an act of Congress.”

Congressional Aides last week visited the Port of Los Angeles as part of a U.S. House of Representatives committee review of the Clean Trucks Program. The two-day tour, however, had little to do with their clean air achievements and instead focused on the thousands of independent owner operators hauling freight from the port, Dukesherer said.

The Clean Trucks Program has been extremely successful, reducing emissions from drayage trucks by 80 percent in just two years. Despite these results, the Teamsters union and their allies at the Port of Los Angeles continue to claim that independent owner operators can not sustain the environmental gains achieved under the program. The Teamsters have pushed for a change in federal transportation law that would give local ports the authority to regulate the trucking industry, with the goal of making it easier to organize the workforce.

Trucking expert witnesses may opine on the trucking industry and trucking and transportation rules and regulations. The American Trucking Associations website reports that:

The Missouri State Highway Patrol recently teamed up with NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing team and Con-way Freight to kick off a statewide safety campaign against texting while driving, according to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The safety campaign’s logo will also be displayed on Con-way Freight’s No. 16 Ford Fusion race car driven by Colin Braun, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat said.

“Anybody can drive a vehicle if they’re focused on it 100 percent,” Braun said. “As a race car driver I don’t [text] while I’m racing, and I don’t do it in my personal car. I know I can’t do it safely, and I’ve got quick reflexes compared to a lot of people on the road.” Missouri became the 23rd state to adopt a ban on texting in August of 2009, when the state made it illegal for drivers under the age of 21 to text while driving, said the Missouri DOT website. However, the newly launched safety campaign advocates that all drivers – regardless of age – refrain from texting while driving.