Articles Posted in Researching Experts

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Pharmacology expert witnesses may opine on generic drugs, patented drugs, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry. Not commonly known is the fact that 40% of prescription drugs used in the US are manufactured outside the US. News this week revealed unsavory business practices by the drug company Ranbaxy in India. Ranbaxy chemical engineer Dinesh Thakur became a whistleblower and exposed that Ranbaxy drugs were made improperly. Ranbaxy was ordered to pay $500 million in fines and settlements.

FDA news release, Sept. 16, 2013: FDA prohibits manufacture of FDA-regulated drugs from Ranbaxy’s Mohali, India, plant and issues import alert.

Read more: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm368445.h

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Domestic abuse expert witnesses may consult and testify on domestic violence, family violence, domestic assault, and related matters. Lawrence Cambra fatally shot an Oregon volunteer officer-in-training this past weekend after having police called to the residence 10 times in 2012 for domestic disputes. When Officer Robert Libke arrived at the burning house, Cambra shot him in the face with a rifle. Officer Libke had not drawn his weapon.

Domesticviolence.org decribes domestic violence:
Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced sexual activity), and stalking. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuse are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence.

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How may pesticides expert witnesses consult on pesticide contamination? These professionals may write reports and testify on insects, pesticide products, pesticide regulations, pesticide pollution, and more. This week, two pesticides have been linked to an increased risk of the medical condition endometriosis. Mirex and beta HCH have been banned in the US for many years but are still found in some dairy products and fish.

Mirex was developed to control fire ants. The chemical unfortunately becomes more concentrated and toxic as it travels up the food chain to humans. The pesticide beta HCH was used over 30 years ago but traces may still be found in the environment. Studies on humans show that exposure is linked to both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Read more at http://www.epa.gov/.

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Cell phone expert witnesses may consult and testify on wireless communications, cellular, and wireless networks. This week, the Rockstar Consortium (owned by Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson and Sony) sued Google, Samsung, and others over alleged mobile phone patent infringements. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Texas while at the same time Samsung and Apple are in patent litigation in more than 10 European countries.

Dan Rowinski, Mobile Editor at ReadWrite, says Rockstar could be considered a “non-practicing entity.” While NPEs are patent holders, they do not manufacture products or supply services based on these patents and are sometimes referred to as “patent trolls.” On October 30, 1023, Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced the Patent Litigation Integrity Act (S. 1612) to inhibit litigation by patent trolls.

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What types of cases may wireless technology expert witnesses consult on? They may assist with disputes involving wireless communications, cellular, GPS, and more. The Global Positioning System is a navigation system made possible by 24 satellites in orbit 12K miles above the earth. The satellites are solar powered and each circles the earth twice a day.

In the news, a Philadelphia federal appeals court ruled that police must have a warrant before using GPS to track a suspect’s vehicle. In Case No. 12-2548, Judge Greenaway opined: “This appeal stems from the Government’s warrant-less installation of a Global Positioning System device (a “GPS device” or “GPS tracker”) to track the movements of appellee Harry Katzin’s van.”

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Transit expert witnesses may opine on bus & truck safety, highways, bridges, transportation engineering, and related matters. Background information on these issues may be found at the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration website which offers news releases, policy letters, the FTA library (which includes a Legislation & Law search page), and much more.

There is also an email update service. I signed up for the Transit Research Update and Press Releases.

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Internet expert witnesses may consult and and testify on electronic mail, identity theft, and internet security. In the news, documents leaked by Edward Snowden and Washington Post interviews describe the National Security Agency as collecting information from Silicon Valley internet companies, such as Google and Yahoo, on millions of customers. Google’s David C. Drummond, Senior VP, Corporate Development, and Chief Legal Officer, said his company does not “provide any government, including the US government, with access to our systems.” Drummond served as Google’s first outside counsel while at Wilson Sonsini and joined Google in 2002.

FYI: Gmail was launched on On April Fools’ Day in 2004.

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Aviation expert witnesses may consult on aircraft design, aircraft operations, aviation maintenance, aviation safety, and more. This week a Delta Air Lines international flight made an emergency landing in Cold Bay, Alaska, after an engine warning message flashed in the cockpit. The flight left Tokyo and was bound for San Francisco.

Cold Bay is the furthermost settlement on the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula and the beginning of the Aleutian Islands Archipelago. The Cold Bay Airport serves as an emergency runway for aircraft flying through the North Pacific. There were no injuries on the flight.

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Transportation infrastructure expert witnesses may consult on highways, bridges, transportation engineering, and transportation funding. In Los Angeles this week, over 1,000 business, transportation, and elected leaders met at the 12th annual Mobility 21 Southern California Transportation Summit to address challenges in Southern California’s infrastructure. Along with traffic congestion problems, the Southern California Association of Governments foresees a $200B deficit for infrastructure through 2035.

Mobility 21 was formed in 2002 by the Metro and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce as well as the Automobile Club of Southern California in order to speak as an advocate for transportation issues. They may be contacted at mobility21@me.com.

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Medical toxicology expert witness Dr. Gary Dawson testified in the Provo, UT, murder trial of Martin MacNeill. MacNeill is accused of giving his wife five drugs including Valium which caused her death in 2007. Pharmacist Dawson described drugs found in Michele MacNeill’s body and how they are processed in the body. The prosecution contends that MacNeill killed his wife in order to continue an affair with Gypsy Willis while the defense says Mrs. MacNeill died due to a hear condition.

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