Articles Posted in Researching Experts

In Do Helmets Prevent Concussion? biomechanics expert witness John D. Lloyd, Ph.D., M.Erg.S., CPE, CBIS, writes:

Concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a leading health issue resulting from head impacts associated with sports, recreation and transportation. Youths are particularly susceptible to head injury, though it can also devastate a professional career. Full recovery from mTBI often takes longer than expected, without which a second, even relatively innocuous, impact could have catastrophic outcomes.

Helmet manufacturers realize that their products may not reduce the risk of concussion and even NOCSAE (National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment) standards are based on tests that ignore risks associated with concussions. Yet, clinicians recognize that brain injuries are caused by a combination of impact and impulse mechanisms, which engineers are readily able to measure in terms of linear and angular head motions.

In The Many Faces of TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, brain injury expert witness Dr. John D. Lloyd, PhD, MErgS, CPE, CBIS, writes:

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is often considered the signature injury of the ongoing military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, there are many more non-combat victims of the devastating effects of TBI, which can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere.

The very young and very old are both highly vulnerable to significant head trauma from otherwise innocuous household short falls. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), accidental falls are the number one cause of injury and number two cause of fatality in infants and young children. While teens and adolescents may believe they are superhuman at times, their young brains, which continue to develop into their mid-twenties, require extra protection due to the risky behaviors, which coincide with a peak in TBI fatalities. While the fully-formed adult skull may serve well as a helmet to protect the brain from milder impacts, there are many potentially injurious events that affect this group including automobile and motorcycle accidents, blunt force trauma, and impacts due to amateur and professional sports, including football, hockey, soccer, horse-riding, etc. Finally, in our golden years, where the brain atrophies, thereby increasing the risk of deformation, in combination with anti-coagulant (blood-thinning) therapies for various medical conditions can place elders at heightened risk of injury due to minor falls.

In EFFECTIVE VALUATION & LITIGATION SUPPORT IN CORPORATE SECURITIES LAWSUITS, forensic accounting expert witness Richard M. Squar, CPA, CVA, ABV, CFF, MBA-Taxation, writes:

Okay, let’s face it. There are always important concerns for the board of directors of any company, public or private. Today you, Director, and the board and company are served a lawsuit from dissenting shareholders. The lawsuit asserts the shareholders’ right to appraisal and alleges that the directors did not meet their duties of care and loyalty to the corporation and shareholders you serve. Substantial damages are being claimed due to alleged corporate securities fraud.

Great. And you thought this was going to be a nice, warm, bright Orange County day! Do you lose your appetite, kiss and hug your spouse, and call your therapist? Of course. When the company’s legal counsel tells you not to worry, do you continue to worry? Of course. Do you go to the special board meeting with corporate legal counsel and begin dealing with the matter head-on? Of course you do. You’re a director!

In Construction Process Can Lead to Defects, construction expert witness Michael S. Poles, GC, CM, RCI, DABFET, ACFE, writes on the complex process involved in a building project:

Building Materials Before building materials can be used in any building, they are first run through a highly complex, and extensive engineering, testing, and review process. This review process is usually conducted by a vast number of independent testing laboratories and the results are reviewed by many professional committees, such as the American Society for Testing and Materials, (A.S.T.M.) and the International Conference of Building Officials, (I.C.B.O.).

Reports of the testing results and the Professional Societies’ findings are published and updated regularly. These reports, often referred to as A.S.T.M. Standards, I.C.B.O. Reports, and Uniform Building Code Standards, state the minimum recommended standards for the use of the materials.

In Challenges in Recovering Deleted Email computers expert witness Steve Burgess writes:

There are three main types of email in common usage – Microsoft Outlook (often paired with a Microsoft Exchange Server), text-based email client programs, and web-based email, or webmail.

In Microsoft Outlook, all emails are kept in one large, encrypted, non-text file – the PST, or Personal Folders file. Outlook has additional functions and additional content as well. There is an integrated address book, multiple mailboxes, a calendar, and a scheduler, all of which are contained within the PST file. When one looks into a PST file with a file editor or word processing application, there is little or nothing intelligible to the human eye. The file content looks like nearly random characters.

Patents expert witnesses may testify on computer patents, design patents, international patents and licensing, and related matters. On patentdamages.com, attorneys Chris Marchese and Justin Barnes comment on “the fast moving world of patent damages.” Sign up for their blog here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PatentDamages.

In Construction Process Can Lead to Defects, construction expert witness Michael S. Poles, GC, CM, RCI, DABFET, ACFE, writes on the complex process involved in a building project:

Cost vs. Profit The pursuit of lower costs can become a powerful driving factor, which all too often leads to construction defects, especially during a recession such as the current recession that the construction industry has faced throughout the past four years. These highly competitive elements are forcing contractors into resorting to the widespread practice of using semiskilled, and, most often, unskilled labor to perform skilled labor tasks. These skilled labor tasks in the past have always required extensive training, certification, and years of experience.

In addition to this widespread and growing practice of the utilization of questionably skilled labor, supervision is also waning. All too often, semiskilled and even unskilled crews are left to their own devices to perform their work on the job site without proper supervision or even without any supervision at all.

In Construction Process Can Lead to Defects, construction expert witness Michael S. Poles, GC, CM, RCI, DABFET, ACFE, writes on the complex process involved in a building project:
Competitive Bidding The low bidder gets the contract. With the competitive bidding process, the only way for a contractor to be awarded the contract is that he / she must first be designated the low bidder. In order to be designated the low bidder, it can either mean that the successful bidder has a substantial following of subcontractors and material suppliers that are highly cost effective and are capable of furnishing low quotations for their collective work. Or, it could mean that one or more of them omitted one or more items in their cost breakdown that could equate to a lot of money … missed.

When a low bid is received by a general contractor from their subs and suppliers, it is often wondered by the recipient just what and how much the low bidder left out of his / her bid and whether or not to take the chance of using that low bid. The dilemma is always raised … “Well, if they bid this number to us, then they surely must have bid it to our competition”. And, to make things worse, most of the sub bids are received by telephone only moments before the prime contract bid is to be submitted, and; therefore, the general contractor has precious little or no time available to scrutinize this temptation, otherwise known as the “last minute low bid”.

In Construction Process Can Lead to Defects, construction expert witness Michael S. Poles, GC, CM, RCI, DABFET, ACFE, writes on the complex process involved in a building project:

When relative to construction claims, the word defect also equates to financial disaster when it reaches litigation.

The process that it takes to construct any building project is an extremely complex process. It is replete with architects, engineers, professional societies and associations, manufacturers and suppliers, building officials, general contractors, specialty contractors, and a virtual army of labor which lends itself to numerous volumes, many years of education, and specialized training.

In What to Look for in a TMJ or Orofacial/Craniofacial Pain Expert, dental expert witness Dr. John Van der Werff

Choosing an expert witness for TMJ disorders, or TMD (temporomandibular disorders), as it is officially titled, can be confusing because many medical practitioners try to treat these complex problems. So what should you look for in a TMJ expert?

The temporomandibular joint can be affected by misaligned teeth and the bite, therefore, a dentist makes the best expert witness when evaluating TMJ disorders. The American Dental Association does not currently recognize treatment of TMD as a specialty. Specialty training in a field such as oral surgery, orthodontics, and prosthodontics does not necessarily translate into specialty training in TMJ. Instead, look for a dentist who has extensive post-graduate training in TMD and orofacial/craniofacial pain. There are a number of private and university-based programs and courses available.