Articles Posted in Researching Experts

Health insurance expert witnesses may opine on insurance policies, insurance claims, insurance carriers, and associated matters. In Why Employers Will Continue to Provide Health Insurance: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act (Policy Briefs/Timely Analysis of Health Policy Issues), Linda J. Blumberg, Matthew Buettgens, Judy Feder, and John Holahan of the Urban Institute write:

The Congressional Budget Office, the Rand Corporation, and the Urban Institute have estimated that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will leave employer-sponsored coverage largely intact; in contrast, some economists and benefit consultants argue that the ACA encourages employers to drop coverage thereby making both their workers and their firms better off (a “win–win” situation). This brief’s analysis shows that no such “win–win” situation exists and that employer-sponsored insurance will remain most workers’ primary source of coverage. Analysis of three issues-the terms of the ACA, worker characteristics, and the fundamental economics of competitive markets-supports this conclusion.

Read more: urbanorg.com.

Hazard identification expert witnesses may write reports and opine on risk assessment, disaster risk management, as well as related issues. At its website, FEMA offers Hazus, a methodology for estimating potential losses from disasters.

As the number of Hazus users continues to increase, so do the types of uses. Increasingly, Hazus is being used by states and communities in support of risk assessments perform economic loss scenarios for certain natural hazards and rapid needs assessments during hurricane response. Other communities are using Hazus to increase hazard awareness. Successful uses of Hazus are profiled under Mitigation and Recovery and Preparedness and Response. Emergency managers have also found these map templates helpful to support rapid impact assessment and disaster response.

Read more: fema.gov.

Insurance fraud expert witnesses may consult on the insurance industry, health insurance, disability insurance, and affiliated matters. On December 14, 2011, the Illinois Department of Insurance issued this press release:

The Illinois Department of Insurance Uncovers Company Selling Fraudulent Health Insurance – Department Offers Advice on How to Avoid Scam Insurance Plans

The Illinois Department of Insurance is alerting consumers that an unauthorized insurer operating under the name ReAssurance Health, Inc., ReAssurance Health Insurance, or ReAssurance Health Insurance Group (“ReAssurance”) has sold numerous fraudulent health insurance policies to consumers in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Consumers who have a policy issued by ReAssurance should immediately seek legitimate health insurance coverage.

In Avoiding the $475,000 Mistake – Entering the Credit Bid attorney John L. Hosack, Buchalter Nemer, and mortgages expert witness Joffrey Long write:

There’s another possible benefit in starting with a lower bid. Although unlikely in this market, a third party bidder could bid an amount that benefits you more than taking title to the property does. Prepare for this by carefully thinking through the amount at which you’re willing to allow a third party bidder to acquire the property.

A procedure for setting your credit bids might look like this:

Professional liability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on professional indemnity insurance, errors & omissions insurance, and malpractice insurance, among other topics. On the website Everything Small Business, find the article Small Business Liability Insurance – The 4 Types That You Need To Protect Your Business:

Other Types of Small Business Liability Insurance

Self-employed individuals who own small businesses need to speak with professionals in the insurance industry and do their homework before purchasing any type of insurance concerning their businesses. All decisions need to be informed and fine print read so that the most extensive and cost effective coverage can be purchased.

Trucking insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on motor truck cargo insurance, transportation operations insurance, truck liability insurance, and correlated matters. In 10 Ways to Reduce Your Trucking Insurance Premiums TruckersReport.com writes:

Regardless of how good your driving record is or the fact that you haven’t filed any insurance claims, about once per year you go through the never-ending cycle of seeing your trucking insurance premiums increase. While many of the reasons for insurance premium increases are out of your hands, there are some things you can do to improve the chances that your trucker insurance increases don’t outpace your ability to pay.

Hazard identification expert witnesses may write reports and opine on risk assessment, disaster risk management, as well as related issues. At its website, FEMA offers Hazus, a methodology for estimating potential losses from disasters.

Hazus is used for mitigation and recovery as well as preparedness and response. Government planners, GIS specialists, and emergency managers use Hazus to determine losses and the most beneficial mitigation approaches to take to minimize them. Hazus can be used in the assessment step in the mitigation planning process, which is the foundation for a community’s long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. Being ready will aid in recovery after a natural disaster.

Read more: fema.gov.

Insurance policies expert witnesses may opine on commercial liability policies, the insurance industry, commercial insurance, and associated issues. In California Appellate Court Upholds Trial Court’s Dismissal of a Coverage Claim for an Alleged Advertising Injury, Kimberly L. Buffington, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, writes:

In Oglio Entertainment Group, Inc. v. Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, 200 Cal. App. 4th 573 (2011), the California Court of Appeal concluded that an entertainment company’s insurance policy covering “personal and advertising injuries” did not cover a claim for trading on the celebrity and goodwill associated with a musician’s name or using the musician’s name as the domain name for a website selling similar music.

Read more from Ms. Buffington.

Marketing expert witness Don E. Smith, President, American Consulting Group, LLC, writes on THE LIMITATIONS OF USING SALES QUOTAS AS THE PRIMARY MEASURE OF PERFORMANCE:

V. CONCLUSIONS

A. $ sales quotas should be only one of the measures defining a distributor’s performance.

Agent errors and omissions expert witnesses may write reports and opine on professional liability, mismanagement, E&O and associated matters. Stateside Underwriting Agency offers this explanation of miscellaneous professional liability:

Miscellaneous professional liability sometimes, called errors and omissions (E&O) liability, results from errors or omissions that are committed during the course in the performance of professional services. Companies that perform professional services for others can make mistakes, overlook a critical piece of information, misstate a fact, be misunderstood, forget to do something, lose something, and be sued by their clients..

Read more: statesideunderwriting.com.