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.
Construction Site Expert Witness On Watermarking The Expert Witness CV Part 1
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)
Rosalie Hamilton On Cross-Examination Questions (and Answers) About Your Advertising Part 2
In Cross-Examination Questions (and Answers) About Your Advertising, Rosalie Hamilton, the Expert’s Expert on marketing writes:
ï Answer questions honestly, and do not elaborate, except to further defuse the question.
ï As with all deposition and courtroom questions, respond only to questions, not to statements; be comfortable with the silence and wait for a question.
ï 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.
Workers Compensation Expert Witness On Underwriting Philosophy Part 3
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.
Preparing An Expert Witness For Direct Examination Part 2
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 & IEA Report
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/
Samsung & Patents Litigation Expert Witnesses
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/
Rosalie Hamilton On Cross-Examination Questions (and Answers) About Your Advertising Part 1
In Cross-Examination Questions (and Answers) About Your Advertising, Rosalie Hamilton, the Expert’s Expert on marketing writes:
Some experts are understandably wary of advertising. I see some forensic advertising that I consider objectionable, advertising that a skilled attorney could use to impeach an expert witness. On the other hand, the mere fact that one advertises is not objectionable. Advertising, in and of itself, is not the basis of being viewed as a “hired gun.” That results, instead, from the prostituting of oneself by manipulating the facts and opinions to provide a desired conclusion.
If you are concerned about how you will look when answering questions about marketing your expert services, remember that the attorney grilling you is probably listed in local, state, and national bar association publications; Martindale-Hubbell(c) attorney directory; local, state, and national legal magazines and newspapers; the Yellow Pages; and his child’s athletic booster directory. As was the judge when he practiced law as an attorney!
Do *not* take the questioning personally. Your responses to the questions, rather than the questions themselves, will determine the attitude of jurors and even judges toward you. Practice maintaining your poise and responses to emotion-loaded questions.
Environmental Expert Witnesses & Davisco Waste Water Settlement
Environmental expert witnesses may provide reports and expert testimony regarding EPA regulations, the National Environmental Protection Act, water pollution, the Clean Water Act, and more. Recently the EPA reached a settlement agreement with Davisco Foods International for dumping waste water containing phosphorus and ammonia pollutants over allowable limits into the Snake River. Davisco does not admit any liability in the U.S. District Court Boise, ID, case but will pay $300K in fines.
Workers Compensation Expert Witness On Underwriting Philosophy Part 2
In Workers’ Compensation Underwriting Philosophy as Partnership, workers compensation expert witness David L. Stegall, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPA, writes:
Insurance is a business based on the concept of “Utmost Good Faith” between the parties; this is the opposite of the “Caveat Emptor” (buyer beware) concept. This is particularly true of workers’ compensation where there are two beneficiaries to the agreement, the employer and the employee. Workers’ Compensation is one of the social programs that made our Free Enterprise System strong. In the 1920âēs, when most states passed laws regarding workers’ compensation, it was agreed that these laws are beneficial to all parties. Employers could know the cost of labor, thereby allowing them the ability to manage their businesses and price their products with certainty and stability. Workers knew if an accident or illness did occur from their work, they would be able to receive benefits without filing suit against their employer and seeking relief in tort. This system bestows both rights and responsibilities on the parties to the agreement. It was intended to be a no-fault, non-adversarial system and to succeed it requires both parties to act with the utmost good faith.
David Stegall is the Principal Consultant at Risk Consulting & Expert Services.