Articles Posted in Researching Experts

In BUYING A FRANCHISE VERSUS STARTING AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, attorney and franchising expert witness Kevin B. Murphy writes:

As a franchise attorney who has owned and operated a successful franchise, I can say buying a franchise represents a different approach to starting a business. Millions of people dream about owning their own business. Having the independence that being your own boss brings, the security that no one can fire you, hopefully enjoying a good income – and for the most successful – the accumulation of wealth and prosperity.

Unfortunately, the cards are stacked against a new small business making it big – or making it at all. An endless stream of problems makes competition from large, sophisticated chains just too intense. Most new start-ups end as failures.

Movies expert witnesses may opine on film, royalties, motion picture distribution, copyright for movies, and more. In Types of Content Theft, the Motion Picture Association of America writes:

CAMCORDER THEFT Approximately ninety percent of newly released movies that are pirated can be traced to thieves who use a digital recording device in a movie theater to literally steal the image and/or sound off the screen. Camcorder theft is one of the biggest problems facing the film industry. All it takes is one camcorder copy to trigger the mass reproduction and distribution of millions of illegal Internet downloads and bootlegs in global street markets just hours after a film’s release and well before it becomes available for legal rental or purchase from legitimate suppliers. Studios and theater owners have significantly increased security and surveillance in theaters all over the world to thwart would-be camcorders. Since 2003, the major motion picture studios have employed technology such as watermarking films, which enables film companies to discern the source of a stolen film through forensic analysis and trace it back to the very theater in which it was recorded.

Read more: mpaa.org.

In Preparing and Presenting Expert Testimony, traffic engineer and accident reconstruction expert witness Lawrence Levine writes:

How then can a Traffic Engineer best assist an attorney in either developing the basis for a suit to be filed by a plaintiff attorney or defending a case, which would be the province of government agency attorneys or outside defense counsel. Note that although the two groups of lawyers often overlap by handling both defense and plaintiff work, lawyers generally focus on one or the other. As such, each attorney has a different bias and therefore a different agenda.

Attorneys are ‘advocates.’ They are supposed to take sides, no matter how they might feel personally, to provide their client with the best representation. This is not the case for the Traffic Engineer who the lawyer chooses to use either as a fact witness or as his expert witness. The Traffic Engineer in either case is expected to be totally objective, have no bias, and state opinions they have developed “within a reasonable degree of engineering certainty.” Plaintiff lawyers are paid on a contingency, if they win. Experts are paid regardless.

Auto insurance claims expert witnesses may opine on policies, auto repairs, and injury claims. In How to Read an Auto Policy, Auto Insurance Claim Advice writes:

Your auto insurance policy is not one packet of information. It is made up of different separate sections (often times, different and separate documents). An insurance policy is composed of the following:

* Insurance Declarations Page;

In Medical Device Design Controls – Transfer, Changes, and History, quality management systems expert witness Philip J. O’Keefe, PE, MLE, discusses design transfer procedures:

Meant to ensure that medical device designs are correctly translated into production specifications for manufacturing, Design Transfer Procedures keep those directly involved with the manufacturing process in check. It is absolutely vital that those involved in manufacturing receive accurate and complete information…

A Design Transfer Procedure would ensure that a variety of mishaps do not occur during the transfer process. The procedure is typically overseen by the medical device company’s management. For example, a Design Transfer Procedure would lay out responsibilities of supervisors and managers to make sure the latest revision of electrical schematics, bills of materials, Gerber files, and quality testing procedures are received by the manufacturer of a device’s printed circuit boards. It’s important that the order is received in a timely manner so as not to hold up the manufacturing process. However, it’s much more important that the printed circuit board is made properly, the correct electrical components are placed on it in the correct orientation, and it is tested to make sure it doesn’t malfunction after assembly.

Property insurance expert witnesses may advise on issues involving insurance claims, insurance adjusters, property insurance, and related issues. In Chinese Drywall Claims Not Covered Under Homeowners Policies, plaintiff’s attorney William F. “Chip” Merlin, Jr., writes that State Farm, USAA, Allstate, and Hartford are among other insurers that refused to pay their customers for losses stemming from damages caused by defective Chinese drywall:

The Chinese Drywall coverage litigation involving first party property insurance policies has been discussed in the past. Are Chinese Drywall Problems Covered Under Property Insurance Policies? discussed the complex issues involved and warned that these losses may not be covered. FC&S Says Ensuing Loss Coverage Applies to Chinese Drywall Claims and Chinese Drywall Claims May Be Covered Under Homeowners Policy–Favorable Developments in Louisiana gave hope to the policyholders suffering form this unexpected property loss. Unfortunately, a recent opinion, In re: Chinese Manufactured Drywall: Products Liability Litigation, issued December 16, 2010, did not rule in favor of the first party policyholders.

Read more: propertyinsurancelaw.com.

In Experienced Claims Adjusters May Make Better Insurance Claims Experts Than Attorneys, William F. “Chip” Merlin, Jr., Esq. writes:

Practicing law and practicing adjustment are two different things. Some attorneys arrogantly think they know more about insurance because they understand insurance law. They often have no clue what they are talking about or understand what is going on in the insurance claims office. One significant part of understanding insurance and insurance claims handling for attorneys, whether policyholder or insurance company counsel, is to understand the training, management and day to day activities of adjusters. Thinking that an attorney is skilled in insurance because he can read, write and understand insurance cases and statutes is akin to thinking that an attorney can be skilled in surgery because he can read, write and understand medical malpractice cases.

This point was emphasized again in a blog by Ronald D. Kent, Lawyer Cannot Testify as Expert in Bad Faith Case Where Lawyer’s Background Is Not Relevant To Issues in Case, where he noted a bad faith case Butler v. First Acceptance Insurance Co., 652 F. Supp. 2d 1264 (N.D. Ga. 2009)…

In The Insurer’s Duty to Defend: A Quick Analysis, attorney and insurance expert witness Thomas H. Veitch describes some general rules applied by Texas courts and other jurisdictions following the “Eight Corners Analysis” regarding a duty to defend.

The insurer’s duty to defend is a contractual duty determined by the provisions of the insurance policy.

The eight-corners rule emanates from the fact that only two documents are considered relevant to the determination of the duty to defend, i.e., the policy and the pleadings.

In THE BUSINESS SECURITY TEST, nightclub security expert witness Robert A. Gardner, CPP, writes that “no business is totally immune from the threat of crime but a little prior planning and a few common sense precautions are all that is necessary to deter most criminals.”

Use this test to conduct a survey of your business. Each “NO” answer indicates a weakness that could help a criminal. As you eliminate the “NO” answers, you improve your level of protection and reduce your risk of becoming a victim. Go through the list carefully and systematically. You will also want to look at the business during the night and on weekends. Those are times when you may be most vulnerable.

Remember, this checklist points out your weak areas. You are not fully protected until each of them is corrected. Of course complying with these suggestions won’t guarantee that your business will never be the target of crime but it will improve odds in your favor.

The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics, answers the question, What stages are involved in the reverse engineering process?

Answer: Since the reverse engineering process can be time-consuming and expensive, reverse engineers generally consider whether the financial risk of such an endeavor is preferable to purchasing or licensing the information from the original manufacturer, if possible.

In order to reverse engineer a product or component of a system, engineers and researchers generally follow the following four-stage process: