Fuels expert witnesses may testify on petroleum hydrocarbon analysis, propane gas, solid fuels, automotive fuel, automotive fuel economy technology, and more. This week, the republic.com reports on the controversy over the high-ethanol blend of gasoline known as E15 which contains 15% ethanol. 10% is the norm sold at most U.S. gas stations.
Ethanol is an alternative fuel fermented from corn, grains or agricultural waste and is used to supplement gasoline.
Explosions expert witnesses may consult on chemical explosives, magnetic explosions, steam boiler explosions, and dust explosions. In the news, an explosion at an Indiana grain bin southeast of Chicago left one worker dead. LaPorte County police say James Swank may have been the victim of a grain dust explosion at the Union Mills Co-op. A dust explosion is the fast combustion of dust particles in an enclosed area.
Products liability expert witness Susan Maccoy may consult on product development, product liability, professional liability, and employee and consumer injuries related to the cosmetology, beauty salon, and spa industry. Her expertise and professional experience encompasses the full range of cosmetology products, services, techniques, procedures, policies, and salon management.
Ms. Maccoy’s latest book, Down the Shampoo Bowl: The ABC’s of Hair Salon Management details successful business strategies as well as pitfalls to avoid in the cosmetology business.
Environmental health expert witnesses may consult on environmental exposure, leaking underground storage tanks, and occupational safety. Hanford Nuclear Reservation is in the news at after the U.S. Energy Department reported that workers may have found leaking radioactive waste (chron.com). Hanford, in south-central Washington, was home to the first full scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Hanford plutonium was used in the first nuclear bomb and the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
In Watermarking an Expert Witness CV, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:
A recent article on a prominent expert witness directory site recommended and encouraged their experts and consultants to watermark their curriculum vitae. Their reasoning, according to the article, was because, “As disconcerting as it may be, unscrupulous activity does exist in the legal industry.”
“Marking the CV with such statements as “UNOFFICIAL,” “NOT YET RETAINED,” “DO NOT SUBMIT,” or “UNAUTHORIZED,” prevents unconscionable practitioners from downloading a CV and submitting it as their “Retained” expert witness, or implying such, without the knowledge and consent of the expert.”(Experts.com)
In Cross-Examination Questions (and Answers) About Your Advertising, Rosalie Hamilton, the Expert’s Expert on marketing writes:
Answer questions honestly, and do not elaborate, except to further defuse the question.
As with all deposition and courtroom questions, respond only to questions, not to statements; be comfortable with the silence and wait for a question.
Don’t answer compound questions, or at least divide your response, with one answer to the first part of the question and a clearly separate answer to the second part.
In Workers’ Compensation Underwriting Philosophy as Partnership, workers compensation expert witness David L. Stegall, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPA, writes:
The problem with workers’ compensation underwriting is relatively simple: How does an underwriter find employers whose employees do not get injured very often and that return to work well and quickly. Identifying a problem is much easier than solving it. The best service a business can provide is to solve a problem. Most of the problems with workers’ compensation are management problems, i.e. how the process is managed. Businesses handle processes in different ways, some more effectively and efficiently than others. The processes used by some employer’s lead to superior results, i.e. fewer losses (frequency) and lesser losses (severity) as compared to the employers who have poorer loss histories. Process management flows from management attitudes. The way a manager faces a problem has much to do with their success in solving the problem. So, what needs to be looked for is a management attitude: one of partnership and cooperation. An underwriter needs to look for employers who understand human resource management and who care about their employees.
David Stegall is the Principal Consultant at Risk Consulting & Expert Services.
In Preparing an Expert Witness for Direct Examination: Time for a Pep Talk, medical expert witness Burton Bentley II, M.D., FAAEM, ELITE MEDICAL EXPERTS, LLC, writes:
Take time to establish the expert’s role within the framework of the case. Remind the expert that he or she is an impartial commentator. His or her loyalty is to the court thus obligating the expert to render honest and unbiased opinions. The expert is neither the accuser nor is he or she responsible for the events that have transpired. The expert alone will not determine the destiny of either party. Rather, the expert will educate and inform the trier of fact in the hope that justice will prevail. While an expert never should advocate opinions with which he or she disagrees, the expert must skillfully articulate and defend the positions that they have already professed. It is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. A compelling expert must exhibit resiliency in the face of tough questioning and remain steadfast in the opinions that they offer. Remind the expert to rely on competent training and years of professional experience. Those strengths are the key to rendering deliberate and assured testimony based soundly upon the medical facts.
Work with the expert to hone their confidence and build their presentation skills. Time spent with a good pep talk — really a “prep-talk” — will be time well spent.
Pollution expert witnesses may provide reports concerning air pollution, air quality, contamination, and pollution regulations. In its annual World Energy Outlook report, the International Energy Agency says the world’s carbon dioxide emissions rose in 2012. China had the largest emissions growth last year. The IEA is an autonomous organization which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 28 member countries and beyond.
More info: http://iea.org/
Patents expert witnesses may consult on software patents, invention patents, patentability requirements, license agreements, and international patents, as well as related issues. Against the backdrop of Apple v. Samsung litigation, Chris Velazco writes for techcrunch.com How Samsung Got Big.
Before Samsung Electronics there was merely Samsung Sanghoe: a small trading company founded by Lee Byung-Chull in 1938 that dealt mostly in dried seafood, produce, and its own noodles.
Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/01/how-samsung-got-big/
