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In W.D. Penn. Court reduces “Petition for Reasonable Attorneys Fees,” legal fees expert witness James King writes:

W.D. Penn. Court reduces “Petition for Reasonable Attorneys Fees” to make requested hourly rates consistent with prevailing market rates for routine discovery disputes, rather than “overall trial victories.”

In Sandvik Intellectual Prop. AB v. Kennametal Inc., 02:10-CV-000654, 2013 WL 141193 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 11, 2013), the prevailing party in a discovery suit sought reimbursement for 264.20 hours which resulted in counsel fees of $98,384.01 for time expended by its attorneys as a direct result of Sandvik’s lengthy pattern of discovery delay, obfuscation, and misconduct. The District Court granted the petition for fees, but reduced it by 20% on the basis that the fee request cited prevailing market rates for attorneys performing “trial” litigation work as opposed to “discovery” litigation work. In support of its fee request, the Pittsburgh law firm Kilpatrick Townsend submitted to the court the published rates of Pittsburgh firms Reed Smith and K & L Gates. The Court reached its result as follows:

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In Property & Casualty Insurance Procurement & Litigation (Ten Recurring Themes Every Lawyer Should Know) insurance expert witness David L. Stegall, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPA, of Risk Consulting & Expert Services writes on ten recurring themes that often lead to litigation. Attorneys either dealing in insurance procurement litigation issues or with clients who purchase insurance may want to consider these ten themes:

Theme 3 of 10 There needs to be a clear understanding of the coverage purchased. Agents, brokers and underwriters are often cautioned not to answer questions about coverages in writing by their superiors and their professional (Errors & Omissions) liability insurance companies. The fear is that the agent will somehow, inadvertently, change the meaning of the insurance policy and/or later be accused of practicing law without a license. There is nothing improper when a purveyor of insurance states their understanding of how a policy would be interpreted in a claims scenario; in fact, it is completely proper and demonstrates a greater degree of care.

In addition, the customer will (hopefully) learn that they have purchased what they thought they have purchased. Agents, brokers and underwriters sell thousands of contracts of insurance everyday. Are they really not supposed to know how they would be interpreted in a claims situation? If the agent or broker will not do it, then ask the underwriter to explain. Refusal to do so should arouse suspicion and other agents or brokers need to be contacted.

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In a struggling economy, injury attorneys working on contingency can lower their risk with potential cases in multiple ways; medical chronologies and an initial opinion of case merit are key components in lowering the upfront risk in a medical malpractice case. Mednick Associates, a 20 year veteran of the industry, outlines tactics that can be employed with almost any case.

The current economic effects of running a law firm are increased when working on a contingent basis. Overhead, employee costs and marketing expenses do not slow down when your case load does. Below are three tactics to use when determining the chances a case will have a favorable outcome.

1) Medical Chronologies: Obtaining medical records is always time consuming, but the real bottleneck is in how they arrive. Complex cases with multiple hospital stays, long treatment periods and numerous operations present medical records from varied institutions and with mounds of information to dissect. Having a chronology done for complex cases, saves the attorney, and their staff, time and allows a medical professional to produce a product that can be used throughout the litigation process. Critical facts, if organized, may change ones outlook on a case at the outset, after a summary of the facts are reviewed.

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The forensic psychiatry expert witness who testified in the case against Richard Kachkar said the defendant was difficult to diagnose. Kachkar is charged with the death Toronto police officer Sargent Ryan Russell. Kachkar drove a stolen snowplow through Toronto and struck down Officer Russell.

Expert witness Dr. John Bradford is Clinical Director of the Forensic Program and Co-Director of the Sexual Behaviors Clinic at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, Professor of Psychiatry and Head, Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa.

Read more at http://ca.news.yahoo.com/.

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OSHA expert witnesses may consult and write reports on workplace safety, job hazards, OSHA regulations and more. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration released findings this month against the Norfolk Southern Railway over its actions in response to an injured worker. PRNewswire reports that Northern Southern Railway fired a Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employee (Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters) when he reported an on the job eye injury. The railway violated employee protections of the Federal Railroad Safety Act (49 U.S.C. §20109).

The employee was reinstated and awarded lost wages and benefits in addition to compensatory and punitive damages.

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In Event Data Recorders: Proper Evidence Collection in Criminal, Insurance and Tort Liability Investigations, accident investigation expert witness Shawn Gyorke writes:

The mandatory terms of this type of legislation (preservation of physical evidence), which demands the preservation and production of all forensic evidence, can be reinforced by the explicit terms of a corresponding criminal code, wherein law enforcement can be found criminally culpable for failures in compliance. Under the Illinois statute, it is “unlawful for a law enforcement agency or an agent acting on behalf of the law enforcement agency to intentionally fail to comply with the provisions of subsection (a) of Section 116” 3. A violation of this statute constitutes a Class 4 Felony for which an Illinois law enforcement official could be fined up to $25,000 and/or imprisoned for 1 to 3 years.

Many other states, including Alaska, Arkansas and South Carolina4, have similarly worded procedural codes requiring the preservation of all forensic evidence on serious crimes. However, the list of states with legislative requirements for the preservation of evidence expands to an overwhelming majority wherein specific biological or DNA evidence could be collected. While the scope of this additional legislation is not discussed within the confines of this article, it could be argued that only on the rarest of occasions, is blood or other biological material not deposited at the scene of a fatal traffic crash.

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Pesticide pollution expert witnesses may report on pesticide products, pesticide regulations, insecticides, and associated topics. In the news, pesticide application may pose a microbiological public health risk. The consumption of fresh produce is frequently associated with outbreaks of human norovirus (hNoV) disease. Data published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology documents that noroviruses are found in water sources used to reconstitute pesticides and that fresh produce may get contaminated with infectious norovirus by pesticide application.

Read more: http://www.sciencedirect.com/.

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Patentability requirements expert witnesses may consult on drug patents, patent prosecution, patent infringement, computer patents, design patents, and more. At BitLaw.com attorney Dan Tysver discusses what makes an invention patentable including the language in 35 U.S.C. 101.

Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.

Mr. Tysver is a patent attorney focusing primarily on the areas of computer hardware and software, data storage, and consumer electronics.

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Jodi Arias’ defense expert witness Richard M. Samuels has testified that Arias suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and dissociative amnesia. Arias is on trial for the murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. Dr. Samuels, Ph.D., FACCS, ABPP, is a practicing clinical and forensic psychologist in Scottsdale, AZ. He testified that that the 2008 event was so traumatic for Arias that she cannot remember details.

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In Property & Casualty Insurance Procurement & Litigation (Ten Recurring Themes Every Lawyer Should Know) insurance expert witness David L. Stegall, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPA, of Risk Consulting & Expert Services writes on ten recurring themes that often lead to litigation. Attorneys either dealing in insurance procurement litigation issues or with clients who purchase insurance may want to consider these ten themes:

Theme 2 of 10 Premium payment is the basis of which all other obligations follow. Paying premiums to an agent of an insurance company is ordinarily the same as paying the insurance company. Is the person for whom your client is buying the insurance an agent or a broker? This information is usually not on the proposal. An insurance buyer needs to be sure the premium is paid to the insurance company or the company’s authorized representative (i.e., Agent) and not to a broker, who is not an authorized representative of the insurance company. The cases of brokers taking premiums from their clients and not conveying the money to the insurance company is, unfortunately, more common than one might expect and for this reason, payment to the insurance company is preferred.

Lesson #2: Your client (the Insurance buyer) knows they have purchased insurance if they have paid for it – so the buyer needs to make sure the premiums are paid to the insurance company.

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