Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

Civil engineering experts at the American Society of Civil Engineers have written a free pamphlet entitles “So, You Live Behind a Levee!”

Most people know that levees are built near rivers and lakes to reduce flooding risk, but what does it mean to live behind one? Are your home and loved ones safe from floods? How much protection does the levee really provide? What do you need to know to be safe? ASCE’s new public education booklet,

So, You Live Behind a Levee!

, was created to answer those questions and more, and to help individuals and communities better protect themselves against future flood threats. Written for both the engineering and non-engineering public, it covers issues such as flood size and risk, signs of trouble, ways to reduce risk, and how to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

* Download a free copy of “So, You Live Behind a Levee!” and find out how you can order multiple copies of the handy paperback guide at a discount. http://www.asce.org/

The reverse engineering expert witness focuses on discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. Reverse engineering is a process of examination only: the software system under consideration is not modified (which would make it re-engineering).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering.

The California Department of Transportation Roadside Safety Research Group is responsible for evaluating the crash worthiness of roadside safety technology such as barriers, guardrails, crash cushions, bridge rails, sign supports and other hardware. The branch conducts full-scale crash tests on roadside safety hardware designs developed by Caltrans to assure that these designs comply with applicable crash performance criteria. It also evaluates the crash worthiness of proprietary hardware developed by others to assure that such hardware is acceptable for use on state highways. Finally, the branch provides support to Caltrans Legal in tort liability cases by conducting crash tests and providing technical assessments and expert witness testimony.

Crashworthiness experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration answer the questions “DO MOTORCYCLE HELMETS INTERFERE WITH THE VISION AND HEARING OF RIDERS? ‘

Motorcycle crash statistics show that helmets are about 29 percent effective in preventing crash fatalities. That is, on average, riders wearing a helmet have a 29 percent better chance of surviving a crash than riders without a helmet.The hearing test showed that there were no significant differences in the riders’ ability to hear the auditory signals regardless of whether they were wearing a helmet or not. There was a difference, however, in the hearing threshold between travel speeds of 30 and 50mph. At the greater speed, all riders needed a louder auditory signal because of increased wind noise.

In Basic Characteristics And “Life” of Residential Mortgage Loans mortgages expert witness J. F. “Chip” Morrow writes:

The underwriter must also evaluate the character risk of the borrower. Statistics have shown that past satisfactory payment credit history indicates with high probability that the prospective borrower will make future payments including this new loan. The underwriter analyzes the prospective borrower’s credit history by obtaining a Residential Mortgage Credit Report (“Credit Report”). This Credit Report includes the prospective borrower’s credit histories for the last seven years. This includes credit histories for credit cards, automobile loans, student loans, other home loans, etc., as well as negative credit information including bankruptcies, notices of default, foreclosures and public records. As a requirement of the Credit Report, it must contain at least two of the three borrower’s FICO scores ─ Fair Isaac Score, Beacon Score and Empirica.

A FICO score is a numerical value that ranges between 300 and 850, with the low end of the scale representing a poorer credit risk. Loan entities then use the borrower’s FICO score to chart whether or not a prospective borrower is eligible to receive a mortgage. During the underwriting process, the underwriter must continually be aware of the “red flags” that indicate that the borrower may have problems repaying the loan, that the borrower may not qualify for the type of mortgage loan being sought or that there may be fraud. Freddie Mac has put out a guide called Fraud Prevention Best Practices that outlines these red flags for the various documentation provided by the borrower, the appraiser and the credit reporting agencies.

The half-mile-long Champlain Bridge was abruptly closed as structurally unsafe Oct.16 when engineers learned the 80-year-old massive concrete piers were rotting away just below the waterline. Underwater diving inspections of the piers was done every five years but gave no advance hint at the rapid deterioration to come. Skip Carrier, a state Transportation Department spokesman, said that in the last four years, the amount of missing and rotted concrete in two of the 10-foot-thick piers went from 10 inches to 3 feet.

Civil engineering expert Norbert Delatte said a test may have been able to find the problem before it got so bad. The expert is a professional engineer and professor at Cleveland State University in Ohio and said the the “ultrasonic pulse test is not cheap, but it is a lot cheaper than what is going to have to happen now.” An ultrasonic pulse acts like a kind of sonar. An electrical transmitter is placed against concrete and emits a sound wave, which travels through the concrete and bounces back to a receiver. An engineer can analyze the resulting signal to determine the condition of the concrete.

Delatte is an expert on bridge failure, and is the editor of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. He reviewed DOT diving inspection records for 2000, 2003 and 2005 provided by the Times Union.

In Successfully Locating A Business, zoning and land use expert witness John J. Wallace writes on a retailer’s biggest challenge:

Finally, in considering a store location, think long and hard about your neighbors. These days a good “tenant mix” underlies the success of major malls, as well as some shopping centers. Again, complementary tenants create youth market and convenience-oriented side malls at Stanford Shopping Center. In one of the courts of Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza, a cluster of kid’s shops situated around a carousel ranks among the strongest children-oriented retail destinations in the country.

But some effective tenant mixes are not so obvious. For example, note the preponderance of shoe retailers in large malls anchored by department stores. Rather than cannibalizing each other’s business, these neighboring stores offer a variety that is appealing to comparison shoppers. Restaurant owners have learned the same lesson, and a collection of nearby eateries can coalesce into a successful “dining destination” (much like the food courts in many centers and malls).

In Successfully Locating A Business, zoning and land use expert witness John J. Wallace writes on a retailer’s biggest challenge:

A site may work within a center — but will it work within a community or region? Any retail business serves a particular “trade area.” This is the zone in which roughly 70 to 80 percent of a store’s customers live. Its boundaries are largely determined by driving time, competition, and demographics. For example, people will drive 20 minutes or more to visit a regional mall. But they expect to travel less than 10 minutes to pick up food, hardware, dry cleaning and other convenience items. If the drive is shorter to a competitor’s store, potential customers will probably go there. As for demographics, upscale stores like to locate in upscale communities, stores that target working people like to be in blue-collar areas, and so on. It’s just that simple, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, understanding a trade area is more complicated. In most centers, the anchor tenant defines the trade area for the smaller stores. Locating near a Sears outlet, for example, gives neighboring stores access to regional shoppers with a particular demographic. Being near a Macy’s offers different possibilities. A Safeway pulls in another crowd, mostly from neighborhood residents, without much regard for demographics.

In Air Rage, aviation expert witness Capt. Bob Norris writes:

The problem appears to be growing, based on limited data from a few airlines; it is obvious that the industry needs a central database of uniform reporting to measure scope and changes in the incidence rate.

• It is a multifaceted problem, requiring cooperative efforts from many different directions–e.g., airlines, law enforcement, prosecutors and judges, not to mention public awareness. Tough prosecution and sentencing can be an effective deterrent.

In Successfully Locating A Business, zoning and land use expert witness John J. Wallace writes on a retailer’s biggest challenge:

As customers move through a center, whether on foot or by car, the repeated exposure to signage provides a form of advertising. A concentrated shopping area can generate a sense of activity and critical retail mass that initially attracts people, then keeps them coming back.

Consider that it is almost impossible for small stores to operate successfully from second floors, half-floors, subfloors or any other spot out of the retail line of sight, and without frontage to the flow of shoppers. Second floors only work when the anchor tenants have entrances on that level to generate shopper traffic. Otherwise, upper levels generally provide very poor retail locations. Some center owners solve the problem by turning second story retail space into offices or professional personal service establishments. Others have encouraged ground floor tenants to expand upward and include another story, while retaining a ground floor entrance.