Articles Posted in Expert Witness Testimony

Florida state health regulators have imposed an emergency license restriction on Dr. Zannos Grekos for using experimental stem cell therapy on a breast cancer patient in his Bonita Springs practice last year, resulting in the woman’s death, according to the state’s order.

“The use of unorthodox stem cell transfusions for diseases that have shown no benefit can be extremely dangerous…” a medical expert witness retained by the state Department of Health said about the Grekos case involving the breast cancer patient. “I felt that his care was substandard and dangerous.”

Read more: naplenews.com.

The murder trial of Chad Gurney resumed Wednesday at Cumberland County Superior Court. Gurney, 29, is charged in the killing of 18-year-old Zoe Sarnacki on May 25, 2009. He has waived his right to a jury and has pleaded not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors claim Gurney was legally sane when he killed Sarnacki at his Cumberland Avenue apartment. Forensic psychiatry expert witness Dr. Harold Bursztajn of Harvard Medical School was called to the stand by the defense. The expert says Gurney suffered from mood and thought disorders, primarily caused by a 2005 van crash that injured his brain.

Read more: pressherald.com.

Jessie Stricchiola, a San Francisco based social media expert witness, has been hired in the upcoming defamation lawsuit trial between Courtney Love and fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir. The expert will testify on behalf of plaintiff Simorangkir and was tasked with studying how many people saw Love’s allegedly abusive torrent of spring 2009 tweets. She will also report on what kind of credibility is given to statements made on a casual forum like Twitter.

Read more: mediabistro.com.

In David and Goliath: Silverton and Qwest Battle Over Fiber Optic Line telluridewatch.com reports:

“Qwest was paid to build an information superhighway to Silverton, and they barely widened the existing mule trail.” So said San Juan County Administrator Willie Tookey on June 30 of this year, when Silverton and San Juan County filed a complaint with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission against Denver-based Qwest Communications.

Silverton’s technical expert was Corey Bryndal, who owns a Durango-based company that installs fiber-optic systems, most recently for the cities of Durango, Bayfield and Cortez. Bryndal testified that the 7 megabits of download speed Silverton has available might have been considered fast 10 years ago, but that international standards are many times that now.

Was an oral surgeon at fault for the massive stroke his patient suffered after an 8-tooth extraction under local anesthesia at Philadelphia Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in September 2007? A federal court will take up that question now that a judge has dismissed the U.S. government’s motions to exclude the plaintiff’s expert witnesses from testifying in the malpractice case. District Judge William Yohn denied the defendants’ motions on Nov. 10, allowing the malpractice suit to proceed with the testimony from the plaintiff’s medical malpractice expert witnesses.

Read more: outpatientsurgery.net.

A jury may decide who caused a serious injury crash on Deerfield Road last year after an accident reconstruction expert witness claimed a Lenawee County, MI, Sheriff’s Department investigation got it backwards.

A lawsuit over the crash that left 82-year-old Elmer Johnson near death was moved toward trial this week after a motion to dismiss it was rejected by Lenawee County Circuit Judge Margaret M.S. Noe. Defense attorneys argued a sheriff’s department report left no doubt that Johnson was at fault while attorney Courtney Morgan of Dearborn argued that expert opinion and physical evidence back up the Johnson claim that Joshua Gates, 27, was the one who ran the stop sign.

Read more: lenconnect.com.

The Cayman Islands operates under British law and the rules governing expert witnesses varies greatly from the United States. Accident reconstruction expert witness Jeffrey D. Armstrong, P.E. recently testified as an expert in two trials in the Cayman Islands.

Mr. Armstrong reports that expert witnesses for both sides of the case meet prior to the court date and develop a list of shared opinions. These points are no longer in question in court and questions in the case only relate to the areas that the expert witnesses disagree.

Read more: Cayman Compass.com.

Paradise Valley will hire an engineering expert witness and a water utility expert witness with expertise in water rates as the town prepares to intervene in Arizona American Water Co.’s next rate case before the Arizona Corporation Commission. Arizona American serves nearly 5,000 customers in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale through its Paradise Valley Water District. It is one of three water suppliers for the town, which has no municipal service. Instead, residents and commercial facilities, including resorts, contract with Arizona American, the Berneil Water Co. or Phoenix.

Arizona American is expected to file its rate request next week, with the commission expected to hear it early next year, said Councilwoman Pam Kirby, who chairs Paradise Valley’s Water Utilities Committee. Town residents, resorts and other users served by the private water company could see their bills jump by 20 percent or more if new rates are approved.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/22/20101022paradise-valley-planning-intervene-next-water-rate-case.html#ixzz13U0UK6UV

Two groundwater expert witnesses in the first McCullom Lake, IL, brain cancer trial will laid out for the jury last week how they allege industrial pollution reached and sickened village residents.

Plaintiffs’attorney Aaron Freiwald called groundwater expert Charles Andrews to explain his theory that groundwater contaminated with vinyl chloride traveled from the Rohm and Haas plant in neighboring Ringwood to the village’s private wells.

Read more: northwestherald.com.

The trial of former Richwood, Louisiana, Mayor Edward L. Harris began this week. Harris, who was elected last Saturday to the town’s Board of Aldermen, is charged with one count of malfeasance in office. He is accused of illegally writing more than $70,000 in checks to himself and other employees who left their jobs in 2008 as a new administration came in. Assistant district attorneys Neal Johnson and Brandon Brown filed a motion requesting Mike Rhymes, director of human resources for the city of Monroe, be accepted as a forensic accounting expert witness in the upcoming trial.

If Harris is convicted of malfeasance in office, he faces imprisonment with or without hard labor for up to five years and a fine of up to $5,000.

Read more: thenewsstar.com.