Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

Marketing expert witness Gabriele Goldaper describes a case she worked on and questions, “WHY DID THEY SETTLE?”

My first case was regarding a small clothing company who sued their bank claiming that when the bank did not agree to extend additional credit, the bank was responsible for the clothing company going out of business. My defense, in representing the bank, was that analyzing the books and financial history of the clothing company gave me enough evidence to state that the clothing company was already on the way out. The clothing company was not assigning appropriate markups when determining their wholesale selling prices. In addition, the company had not set any quality standards for their production contractors and thus received a lot of returns from the stores/customers, because of quality related issues.

These returns could not be resold so there was a direct hit to their profit margins. The selling and marketing expenses were far above the standards for the apparel industry. Furthermore, there had not been enough attention paid to their too high payroll and associated expenses and no attempt had been made to bring these costs to a more realistic level. Management appeared to be lacking at every level. I agreed with the bank that further loans would have been extra risky. The bank had no quantifiable information or assurance of any kind enabling them to extend additional credit.

Insurance expert witness Barry Zalma and principal of Zalma Insurance Consultants writes that It is Necessary to Know Insurance to Fight Insurance Fraud.

Insurance fraud is a multi-billion dollar, complex, multi-faceted problem.Those charged with investigating and detecting insurance fraud must institute a serious and detailed training program for its fraud investigators to make them knowledgeable, at the very least, about:

* How to read and interpret an insurance policy

Insurance expert witness Barry Zalma and principal of Zalma Insurance Consultants writes that It is Necessary to Know Insurance to Fight Insurance Fraud.

According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud: “When it comes to insurance fraud, the United States is a world leader. We arguably have the most severe problem on the planet. But we also have the most sophisticated means of combating fraud. Our systems for detecting and investigating fraud are mature and much more robust than those in other developed nations.”

Although I agree with the Coalition that the ability to detect and investigate fraud is as useful as an arrest without a conviction. Detecting and investigating fraud is merely the beginning of the process. If the fraud investigators are not sufficiently trained about insurance, insurance contract interpretation, and civil defenses to attempts at insurance fraud it does not matter how robust and mature the ability to investigate and detect fraud. The mature and robust talents must be joined with civil defenses to fraud and the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators.

In FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS: Post-processing, Steve Roensch, President of Roensch & Associates and failure analysis expert witness, discusses FEA:

The finite element method is a relatively recent discipline that has quickly become a mature method, especially for structural and thermal analysis. The costs of applying this technology to everyday design tasks have been dropping, while the capabilities delivered by the method expand constantly. With education in the technique and in the commercial software packages becoming more and more available, the question has moved from “Why apply FEA?” to “Why not?”. The method is fully capable of delivering higher quality products in a shorter design cycle with a reduced chance of field failure, provided it is applied by a capable analyst. It is also a valid indication of thorough design practices, should an unexpected litigation crop up. The time is now for industry to make greater use of this and other analysis techniques.

Gastroenterology expert witness Dr. Perry Hookman has authored/coauthored over 40 publications in peer-reviewed medical literature. In Medical Malpractice Expert Witnessing : Introductory Guide For Physicians and Medical Professionals, Dr. Hookman writes that medical expert witnesses should adhere to these seven points:

1. Testify for both the plaintiff and the defense in different cases 2. Assess the merits of the case separately from agreeing to testify 3. Insist on reviewing all the records thoroughly 4. Develop a solid medical posture for each case 5. Review the case in a balanced, critical manner 6. Articulate carefully the standard of care in your own words before expressing it in deposition or at trial 7. Stay within the role and duty as “expert witness” and not as an advocate for either side.

In It’s Just Cough Medicine” – Think Again!, addiction medicine expert witness Shannon C. Miller, M.D., FASAM, FAPA, CMRO, describes the abuse of OTC cough suppressants.

Dextromethorphan or DXM is a semisynthetic narcotic related to opium and found in many over-the-counter cough suppressants in the United States and most countries. DXM is contained in any drug whose name includes “DM” or “Tuss.” The drug comes in various forms. Most common are cough suppressants in caplet or liquid form, including Corcidin, Robitussin, Vicks Formula 44, Drixoral, and several generic brands. (A caution: Not all medicines under these brands contain the drug since most brands put out several formulations. Look on the label for “DM,” “Tuss,” or “Maximum Strength.”)…

DXM is related to opiates in its make-up, and it produces mind-altering highs. Misuse of the drug creates both depressant and mild hallucinogenic effects. It also acts as a dissociative anesthetic, similar to PCP and ketamine.

TimesOnline.com UK edition reports:

The surge in credit-crunch related litigation means that expert witnesses are in increasingly short supply, according to Sweet & Maxwell, the legal information publisher. A survey found that 28 per cent of law firms say that they are finding it “extremely difficult” or “difficult” to find the right expert witness for their case. Even before the credit crunch, figures from City law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain showed that litigation was on the up – with the number of High Court commercial disputes jumping 25 per cent in 2006 (latest figures available) to nearly 62,000 after years of decline. The sudden surge in litigation has meant that some experts have started to run out of capacity to take on more work, Sweet & Maxwell says.

One forensic accountant said his team had “almost more work than we can handle” and other expert said that with the “massive surge” in banking litigation, expert witness work was taking up “almost all my time”. Things could get even worse. Professor Alan Riley, of The City Law School, predicts international litigation is set to boom. “As the credit crunch bites, all the chickens will come home to roost. Flawed business models that may look fine in climbing markets are exposed in harsher economic times and as a result, all sides head to the courts or arbitrators.”

Jury selection begins today in the trial of five foreign-born Muslims from the Philadelphia area charged with planning a jihad-inspired attack on the Fort Dix military base. Trading Markets.com reports:

The government’s case is built primarily around secretly recorded conversations made by two cooperating witnesses who befriended the defendants. Those conversations, prosecutors say, detail “plans to attack Fort Dix and kill American soldiers” and include “discussions of the supposed justifications for such attacks rooted in radical jihadist ideology.”

But defense attorneys contend their clients talked a bigger game than they intended to play, portraying them as easily manipulated individuals led into a plot by paid FBI informants who created a conspiracy out of hollow words and empty threats. “Any conspiracy that plots death and destruction has to be taken seriously,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert who teaches at Georgetown University and who is following the trial of the so-called Fort Dix Five.

The Massachusetts Supreme court ruled Wednesday against Walmart in a victory for some 67,500 current and former employees who claimed the retail giant withheld their wages and cut short their breaks The Boston Herald reports:

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated a 2006 trial court ruling that decertified the hourly employees’ class-action lawsuit, excluded testimony of their expert witness and granted partial summary judgment to Wal-Mart. The SJC said the judge “abused his discretion” because he “acted not on the basis of any challenge to (the expert’s) methodology, but essentially on his view that the records themselves were insufficiently reliable.”

The Boston Herald reports:

The state’s highest court yesterday delivered a huge victory for some 67,500 current and former Massachusetts employees of Wal-Mart who claimed the retail giant systematically withheld their wages and cut short their breaks.

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated a 2006 trial court ruling that decertified the hourly employees’ class-action lawsuit, excluded testimony of their expert witness and granted partial summary judgment to Wal-Mart. The employees’ case, first filed in 2001, will now proceed in Middlesex Superior Court.