Articles Posted in Expert Witness News

In Defending Lead-Containing Toy Lawsuits, Ryan L. Nilson and Michael R. Carey explore ways to challenge plaintiffs’ lead poisoning expert witnesses in lead toy exposure litigation. They write:

An injured child epitomizes the sympathetic plaintiff. Not surprisingly, therefore, children injured by toys containing lead have captured the attention of the plaintiff’s bar. Proving – or disproving – exposure, causation, and damages in lead poisoning cases, however, is not child’s play…

Lead is everywhere in our environment. Its most prevalent source is leaded-fuel exhaust that, for decades, has accumulated in the soil and entered our bodies as dust. Exposure also occurs in residential homes when lead paint peels and flakes off walls and children ingest the chips or when drrinking water becomes contaminated by lead piping and solder used in home plumbing.

Ever wonder and/or worry about what would happen if your car was stolen? Rob Painter, forensic locksmith, automotive expert witness, and principal of Rob Painter & Associates, can tell you. In this excerpt he writes on forced entry:

The first thing you must know is that vehicles are not secure. Commonly equipped with electronic door locking systems, the insured might assumed he locked the door when in fact it did not lock by use of the transmitter. Forced entry tools are readily available to anyone on the Web. Most leave no obvious signs of damage. You lock your keys in your car. You call a locksmith. He opens the car doing no damage and yet when working for the insurance company, he observed no signs of forced entry. Strange but true. On 99.9% of the thousands of vehicles I have examined, they were always unlocked at the time of my examination.

Insurance companies deem vehicles with anti theft systems “Unstealable.” This is interesting because even the manufacturer of the vehicle does not guaranty their vehicle can’t be stolen or they would warranty it accordingly. Who do we believe? The manufacturer that makes the vehicle? Or the insurance company and their experts?

From Mr. Rob Painter, http://www.autotheftexpert.com/

The jury begins deliberating today in the fraud trial of celebrity autopsy expert witness Cyril Wecht. Wecht is charged in a 41-count federal indictment with using his former Allegheny County coroner’s staff and resources to help him earn millions doing autopsies for hire. The expert witness has become a famous author, TV pundit and public speaker on high-profile cases in which he was involved, including the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Claus von Bulow. FortMillTimes.com also writes:

Wecht is also accused of cheating some private clients with phony limousine bills and other bogus travel expenses. Finally, he faces the macabre allegation that he traded as many as 16 unclaimed county morgue cadavers for laboratory space at a Pittsburgh university in recent years. Wecht’s attorneys have argued the indictment is a laundry list of administrative peccadilloes, not federal crimes.

In A Look at Art Experts’ Liabilities John Dratz Jr. discusses the appraisal and valuation expert witness’s role in authenticating and appraising works of art. This excerpt discusses defamation cases.

Defamation actions protect the aggrieved party’s name as opposed to his or her purely economic interests. As with disparagement, the statement must be false and published to a person other than the plaintiff. The defamatory statement must also be of a purported fact that can be objectively verified. Thus, a television news report implying that an art dealer knowingly sold stolen candelabra to the de Young Museum is a defamatory statement capable of being objectively determined to be true or false. (Weller v. American Broadcasting Cos., 232 Cal. App. 3d 991 (1991).)

As in other actions based on defamation, the public or private nature of the matter affects the burden of proof. Artists as a rule assume the status of public figures by placing their art in the public eye, and to prevail a plaintiff would be required to prove that the defendant’s statement regarding the artist was “substantially false.” (Weller, 232 Cal. App. 3d at 1010.) However , if the allegedly defamatory statement centered on a private matter – such as a purely contractual relationshiop between artists or between artists and dealers – then the defendant would have the burden of proving its truth. (See Polygram Records, Inc. v. Superior Court, 170 Cal.App. 3d 543 (1985).)

JurisPro, the national expert witness directory built by practicing attorneys, is now directly accessible through the internal network of 12 of the top 20 law firms in the US. The newest firm to take advantage of JurisPro’s database of experts in over 4500 fields of expertise is Sidley & Austin LLP, the #5 law firm in the United States. With 1800 lawyers, Sidley has annual revenues of more than one billion dollars and offices in 16 cities worldwide.

At JurisPro, you can read and the expert’s full CV, see their photo, hear the expert speak, learn their background as an expert witness, read their articles, access that expert’s website, and contact that expert by phone, mail, fax, or e-mail. There are no charges to use JurisPro, and no referral fees.

An interesting Sidley & Austin bit of history:

Ever wonder and/or worry about what would happen if your car was stolen? Rob Painter, forensic locksmith, automotive expert witness, and principal of Rob Painter & Associates, can tell you. He writes:

It’s a common occurrence especially now with the factory anti-theft systems for the insurance company to assign an examination of the reported stolen vehicle to a forensic locksmith. His purpose is to check for forced entry and to determine if the vehicle was key operated last. They will assemble what they call a “Forensic Report” on the vehicle and will commonly use general statements like “The last time the vehicle was operated was with a key of the proper type.”

Sounds good, but let’s look at this in further depth. “Proper type” could be anything that will operate the lock. It could be a pick, a duplicate key or no key at all. The reason the term “proper” is used is that I believe this does not lock the forensic locksmith into an exact statement, although the terminology infers the last time the vehicle was operated was with nothing other than the insured’s key. Now if the scientific process was used and all hypotheses have been eliminated, the examiner should be able to state that the last time the vehicle operated under its own power was with a key of exacting cuts coinciding with the ignition lock cylinder.

In A Look at Art Experts’ Liabilities John Dratz Jr. discusses the appraisal and valuation expert witness’s role in authenticating and appraising works of art.

A thriving international art market has led to an equally robust industry of art authenicators and appraisers. But as recent court cases illustrate, people holding themselves out as such experts may face liabillty under an increasing number of theories when their opinions are challenged…

The most common theory on which to base a case against an art authenticator or appraiser is negligence. Such claims require proof that the defendant failed to provide a reasonable level of care to a plaintiff to which it was owed. This duty could arise from a contractual relationship between the plaintiff and the authenticator or appraiser in a number of different situations.

In Test to Spot Liars Takes Center Stage in Personal Injury Cases Debra Cassens Weiss writes for the ABA Journal on personal injury expert witnesses using the “Fake Bad Scale”:

Expert witnesses are citing a test designed to spot those who are faking their pain in hundreds of court cases, prompting debate about its reliability.

The so-called Fake Bad Scale was added to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory last year, leading to its increasing use by expert witnesses in personal injury cases, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The MMPI is often used to diagnose and treat patients at mental-health facilities.

A Los Angeles prosecutor told the court this week that Anthony Pellicano masterminded a “thriving criminal enterprise” that used illegal wiretapping and bribery to solve the legal problems of Hollywood’s rich and famous. Pellicano is accused of running a criminal service that bugged phones and bribed police and telephone workers to run illegal background checks. Pellicano has been refused bail and is representing himself. Ironically, before his indictment, Pellicano was often called on by law enforcement as an audio expert witness on recordings. The Telegraph reports:

“Primarily what I did was to serve clients in problem solving,” the investigator said in his opening statement.

In Avoiding the Top 10 Mistakes with Distributor Agreements, Glen Balzer, management and forensic consultant and expert witness in domestic and international marketing and sales, shares a checklist of ten common mistakes to avoid when drafting your next distributor agreement. Mistake #5 is entitled Frequency of Price Changes

Distributors sometimes believe that they would have a competitive advantage if their manufacturers are restricted to adjusting prices only once per year. This may serve the distributor well, but at the expense of the supplier. An arbitrary advantage of one party over the other party does not bode well for the partnership.

During periods of inflation or other rising costs, the manufacturer must have the opportunity to pass along increases in cost. The marketplace disallows aggressive price increases. Allowing a manufacturer to increase prices upon 30-day notice eliminates one opportunity for conflict and reinforces the principle of fairness in the partnership.