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Neuropsychology expert witness Dr. Sue Ellen Antell, PH.D., ABPN, ABPP, FACPN, testified in the cases against School Board of Highlands County, FL, employees. The five lawsuits claim a “gross failure to act” by school board employees in connection with the sexual abuse of five female students in the after school care program. Dr. Antell, a board certified clinical and forensic neuropsychologist with specialty training in developmental neuropsychology, testified there is no “credible evidence” that one of the alleged victims was sexually abused.

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Cruise ships expert witness Dr. Ross A. Klein, MSW, PhD, will testify before the U.S. Senate committee hearing Cruise Industry Oversight: Recent Incidents Show Need for Stronger Focus on Consumer Protection. The Memorial University of Newfoundland professor serves as an expert witness in lawsuits against the cruise industry which may involve sexual assaults, labor rights, and passenger deaths.

More info: http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Home

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Aviation maintenance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on aerospace engineering, flight safety, ground and aircraft operations, and more. After British investigators traced a fire to a transmitter in a Boeing 787 aircraft, the FAA is asking airlines to inspect emergency transmitters in all Boeing 787s.

FAA Statement

After reviewing the initial findings of the AAIB’s report and recommendations, the Federal Aviation Administration is working with Boeing to develop instructions to operators for inspection of the Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on Boeing 787 aircraft.

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Patents expert witnesses may consult on issues involving patent protection, patent prosecution, and patent infringement. In Everything you need to know about how Congress is debating patent reform, pandodaily.com writes:

Introduced by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) in February, the “Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes” bill would create a “loser pays” system for lawsuits in which patent assertion entities that aren’t actively using their patents would be forced to pay a defendant’s legal bills if they lose their lawsuits. Losing defendants, however, wouldn’t have to pay. The bill also seeks to define what a “patent troll” is. According to the SHIELD Act, the patent holder would fit that description unless it is an inventor or original asignee, is actively using the patent, or is a university of “technology transfer organization.”

The Application Developers Alliance is an industry association dedicated to meeting the unique needs of developers as creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

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Pornography expert witnesses may provide reports concerning child pornography, cyberpornography, internet pornography, and related matters. In Defending Against Online Child Pornography Chargesattorney Robin Shellow, President of The Shellow Group, writes:

The proliferation of adult websites has made anyone who has ever visited one susceptible to a charge of possession of child pornography. The content of adult web sites changes on an hourly basis. The website that had no pictures of children last month could have tens of thousands this month.

Read more: http://www.theshellowgroup.com/PracticeAreas/Possession-of-Internet-Child-Pornography.html

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In US Forensic Expert: UK Defendant Convicted with NSA Email Sweep, internet security expert witness writes:

The American spy agency, NSA, secretly surveilled a Yahoo! mail account belonging to co-defendants of UK prisoner, Russell Knaggs, in connection with an alleged complex drug conspiracy. The users of the account were employing a draft email in the Yahoo! account as a messaging board – deleting, editing, and rewriting drafts, but never actually sending an email. Said interceptions occurred continuously over several months, even while draft emails were in the process of being edited .

California forensic expert, Steve Burgess, analyzed evidence presented by the UK authorities and showed that captures of email drafts in the account were intercepted ongoingly, and that at times multiple copies of a draft only minutes apart were intercepted, even as the author was typing.

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In Composing the Expert’s Report: Factors for Compliance with Federal Rule 26(a)(2)(B), forensic handwriting expert witness Jacqueline A. Joseph, B.A., CDE, D-BFDE, writes:

Introduction Rule 26 provides guidelines to the discovery process and flow of information between the expert and the client-attorney. In civil lawsuits, the United States district courts’ procedures are governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). Any court may have its own additional requirements regarding report writing and these requirements would be available from the court clerk or your client.

While the rules vary from state to state, at least 35 states have adopted procedural codes based on the Federal Rules, sometimes with slight and time-critical variations. The FRCP applies only to matters being tried in Federal Court.

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Technology expert witnesses may provide reports and testify concerning computers, virtual technology, and communication technology. In Google, others call on NSA for more transparency AllThingsD.com writes:

Sixty-three tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, have come together to call on the US government to bring more transparency to surveillance. An official letter detailing the coalition’s requests will be released tomorrow.

AllThingsD.com is a website devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media.

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Computer security expert witnesses may consult regarding network security, computer crime, data security, and computer forensics. In the news, guardianlv.com describes how computer hackers search out and sell flaws in software coding to government agencies and private companies around the world. nytimes.com this week reported on Italian hackers who sell technical vulnerabilities to countries seeking to break into the computer systems of foreign adversaries.

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Motorcycles expert witnesses may may give opinions regarding issues involving motorcycle dirt bikes, street bikes, and motorcycle accident reconstruction. Newyorkdailynews.com reports that motorcycle racer Bill Warner died Sunday while attempting to top 300 mph on a mile course at the “Maine Event.” Warner lost control on the former Loring Strategic Air Command base runway. He holds the record as the first conventional motorcyclist to top 300 mph in 2011.