Expert Witness Blog

Legal nurse consultant expert witnesses may testify on palliative care, forensic nursing, medical record review, and legal nurse certification, as well as related issues. In 5 ways Legal Nurse Consultants Assist with Medical Mass Torts, Mednick Associates writes:

2) Defense assistance: LNCs act as a siphoning agent for defense attorneys. As they review the records they are able to answer specific questions the defense may present, thus making an argument to dismiss a potential plaintiff. For example, they may scan the records to determine if the plaintiff is a smoker or obese, factors that may exclude them or provide an argument for their dismissal.

3) Plaintiff assistance: For the prosecution, the LNC performs a vital function of reviewing the records for specific patterns or ailments that may result from a particular drug, medical device or treatment. These trends are what increase the population of plaintiffs, thus making the case stronger, more difficult to refute and easier to obtain a medical expert witness.

In DUE DILIGENCE: SECURITIES APPLICATIONS AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS, 2011, securities expert witness Douglas J. Schulz writes:

DEFINITIONS What are the accepted or appropriate definitions of the term “due diligence”? As in almost all regulatory or litigation situations, it depends on which side of the fence you are on. If you are on the defense side and you are being accused by either a regulator or an investor/claimant that you failed to perform proper due diligence, your definition may be amorphous and narrow. You might claim the term is synonymous with such words as inquiry, investigation, research or review. On the other hand, if you are the investor/claimant, your definition will be more encompassing and will include such words as systematic, methodical, meticulous, scrupulous, detailed, and comprehensive.

Mr. Schulz has been in the securities business professionally for 33 years and has been hired over 1,100 times as a securities expert.

Dr. Monique Busch, PhD, ACSW, LCSW, of Performance Solutions Unlimited, LLC, writes on what it takes to consult as a child welfare expert witness.

Being an expert witness is so often more about being an expert consultant as matters are less likely to go to trial and more likely to settle or to be mediated. I have found as an expert in child welfare matters that some of the more helpful information that I have to contribute has to do with understanding day-to-day operations of the industry, functions of key players, checks and balances in the system, and the federal, as well as state laws that make state public child welfare agencies more alike than different.

Child welfare matters involve a great number of different professionals: public child welfare agency personnel; legal – juvenile courts, family courts, guardian ad litem, court appointed special advocate (CASA), attorneys, law enforcement; medical; mental health; and familial. I believe that being passionate about the subject matter in which one is an expert is important. These matters pull on the heart strings, and it is critically important to keep the child(ren) in the matter as the focal point.

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 1 of 10

There are important differences between an insurance agent, an insurance broker, a wholesale broker and a Managing General Agent (MGA). An insurance agent is an authorized representative of an insurance company by contract and represents the insurance company to the buyer. An insurance broker is not an authorized representative of an insurance company, rather, the representative of the buyer to an insurance company. Both agents and brokers may be paid a commission by an insurance company but the nuanced relationship can become very important, particularly in a retail situation versus a wholesale situation.

Construction expert witness Paul Gogulski, BSCE, PE, of Gogulski & Associates, Inc., has teamed with other engineering experts in creating a program that allows project managers to see construction development through 3D video.

Gogulski believes that the program he developed with Keith Plemmons PhD, PE, PMP, and Benjamin Lamoreaux, PE, President of the Lamoreaux Group, will help set new standards in the construction industry by improving the accuracy of project reporting and minimizing risk.

Read more at prweb.com.

In EVALUATING AN EXPERT WITNESS FOR SCHOOL SAFETY CASES, school safety expert witness Michael Dorn writes:

Questions to Ask a Potential Expert Witness for School Safety Cases

Time and money spent up front to carefully evaluate an expert’s suitability for a particular case can save considerable time and money and prevent major problems down the road. Though attorneys and school safety experts are busy professionals, both should be prepared to take the time necessary to ensure the expert is a proper fit for the issues to be evaluated in the case.