Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

According to a recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA), vehicular fatalities account for nearly 95 percent of transportation related fatalities. Drivers often think that warmer weather means safer road conditions, but the effects of winter weather often make for difficult spring road conditions. As March 20th marks the first day of spring, CURE Auto Insurance provides tips on how drivers can stay safe on the road this season.

1. Watch for potholes. Snow, ice and rain from the winter months often leave roads in bad shape. The repeated freezing and thawing of moisture seeps through road surfaces causing potholes. It is best to avoid potholes entirely. If that’s not possible, apply brakes before hitting a pothole and release them just prior to impact. Additionally, keeping your tires properly inflated will help reduce damage from potholes and other road hazards.

2. Spring showers bring May flowers–and wet driving conditions. Rain water that mixes with oil on the streets can result in slippery conditions that may cause unexpected skidding. Stay alert and avoid driving through large puddles ¬-the splashing water may affect your brakes.

The House has approved a bill that requires utilities to pay for utilities expert witnesses who come before the state Public Service Commission to help make the case for rate hikes. Currently, those expert witnesses are paid for by taxpayers. The measure from state Rep. John Lunsford, a McDonough Republican, passed 114-49 on Wednesday. Opponents say the legislation allows utilities to pass the costs along to consumers and could lead to higher gas and electric rates.

Excerpted from RN-T.com.

In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

There are several reasons such a policy hurts our health system. For one, it is an assault on the relationship between physicians and patients. When a doctor decides on a treatment, he is employing years of medical experience and weighing countless factors, like the patient’s age, diet, and lifestyle. Patients, meanwhile, trust that the doctor knows best.

When it’s possible for a health care bureaucrat to override the decision of a trained medical professional, this valuable association between a patient and his doctor breaks down. A patient is no longer under the care of single medical expert, but is now being treated by faceless organization looking to cut corners.

In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

Yet some policies that are gaining popularity are weakening the doctor-patient relationship by putting treatment decisions in the hands of third parties.

Chief among these schemes is “step therapy.” Also called “fail first,” this is a policy that is sometimes adopted by insurers and government health programs to save money on pharmaceuticals. It forces patients to try cheaper alternatives to a prescribed drug before they are permitted to get the medicine that their physicians ordered.

Wood products experts at the International Wood Products Association write that DoubleHeli Tracking Technologies has developed a DNA-based timber tracking system. The company representatives are confident that their international team of genetic scientists can make DNA tracing easy and affordable for the industry to verify the origin of their timber supplies and for law enforcement agencies to conduct spot-checks of timber imports.

Describing DNA as the natural “barcode” they hope to be able to trace wood back from a finished product to its origin. DHTT is creating a DNA geno-graphic database, which is done by analyzing specific DNA markers that are unique to a particular species of timber, but vary across different geographic regions.

Excerpted from iwpa.org.

In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

The health care reform debate has been focused almost entirely on just two broad issues: the large uninsured population and the rising cost of care. But there’s another problem that plagues our health system, and it’s just as serious. Doctors are losing their ability to treat patients without being obstructed by outside parties. Any discussion about improving our health system must recognize that rules which empower bureaucrats to get in the way of the doctor-patient relationship are a serious threat to the quality of medical care.

A strong, trusting relationship between doctors and patients is crucial to a well-functioning health care system. Without such a bond, serious conditions might go misdiagnosed or improperly treated, patients might give inaccurate medical histories, or doctors’ orders might be ignored.

In Identification of Potential Severance Damages In Retail Gasoline Properties,

service station expert witness Robert E. Bainbridge writes:

Retail gasoline businesses are especially sensitive to access degradation. In some cases impaired access can make the business unviable and the property unmarketable as a gasoline outlet. The potential for severance damages from access management takings should be regarded with greater scrutiny by stake holders and the courts when retail gasoline properties are involved.

In Understanding Toyota Sudden Acceleration, materials engineering expert witness Joel S. Hirschhorn writes:

When products fail due to a systemic design, materials or manufacturing flaw, large and statistically significant levels of problems emerge fairly rapidly. This is definitely not the case with the Toyota problem. With many millions of Toyota models on which even more millions of miles have been driven, if there had been an inherent materials or manufacturing design defect, then we would have seen untold thousands of cases of sudden acceleration. It literally would have been virtually a daily event happening all over the country in many Toyota models. But, in fact, little more than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported since 2001 that their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own. This is a tiny, minuscule percentage of Toyotas….

In my professional opinion, the likely scenario is a defect in a semiconductor chip used in the electronic control system. A defect that was caused by some infrequent flaw in a raw material or manufacturing process that would not show up in routine quality control testing of raw materials or components. That so many different Toyota models over many years have been found defective signifies the likelihood of a particular problem component made in a specific factory that has been used for quite a while. Moreover, the defect obviously does not ordinarily impair vehicle performance but only manifests itself under some infrequent conditions, as yet undetermined.

In Four Billion Cell Users : Computing Power Anytime, Anyplace, technology expert witness Ron Maltiel of RMG Associates writes:

We are on the verge of the next computing technology wave – a merging of cell phones, laptop computers, internet, gaming controllers, and navigation devices. The new products do everything a laptop can do and are small enough to fit in a pocket, are always at our fingertips, connect to the internet everywhere, all the time and lend themselves to merging the physical and cyber worlds. There will be ten times the number of mobile internet users versus desktop internet users. The potential for this market is much larger than any of the previous computing technology waves.

Since semiconductors are the major building block of these electronic devices, this growth wave will be the key driver of semiconductor chip growth. After all, integrated circuits (IC) make up half of the manufacturing cost for the Google Nexus , Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, and Toshiba TG01. Best estimates indicate an annual growth rate of 30% for semiconductor companies over the next year.

In Tough Question Requires Equally Tough Answers franchising expert witness Steven Belmonte, President and C.E.O., Hospitality Solutions LLC, asks the questions: “Are product upgrades and renovations really needed during hard economic times?”

I believe most of the major franchise companies have, to a degree (and some more than others), backed off from mandating expensive upgrades until the economy is on a strong upswing. Franchisors are realizing that in today’s economic environment, such a mandate is onerous simply because their franchisees simply can’t afford, or perhaps don’t need, certain upgrades. I applaud this mandate-backoff by the franchise giants-it makes good business sense. However, this backoff policy should be rescinded once it is obvious that the recovery is a sure thing.

It’s hard to crystal-ball such a thing, but now that things may be looking better on Wall Street-if not on Main Street-perhaps it is time to at least begin thinking about upgrades and renovations. The earlier they can be done, the sooner owners and operators will be able to reap the benefit of higher levels of customer satisfaction, repeat business and renewed customer loyalty.