Expert Witness Blog

Professional engineering expert witnesses may write reports and testify on issues involving engineering risk assessments, registered professional engineers, and safety and hazard analysis. In Consumer Guide to Professional Engineering and Professional Land Surveying, the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists writes:

For a home or other building that has been damaged by natural forces such as earthquake, wind, flood, or fire, consultation with a civil or structural engineer is recommended to determine if the building is safe to occupy and can safely be repaired or rebuilt. Civil and/or structural engineers can judge whether or not damage has made a building unsafe to live or work in, or if its condition endangers nearby buildings or the public. Sometimes a geotechnical or soils report is necessary. If so, both civil and geotechnical engineers can provide this service. It is also possible that a survey would need to be done to relocate your property boundaries.

Read more: http://www.pels.ca.gov/pubs/index.shtml.

Bodily injury coverage expert witnesses may opine on bodily injury claims, bodily liability insurance coverage, and related issues. allinsuranceinfo.org explains:

Claims for Bodily Injury Liability Insurance include medical bills, pain and suffering and loss of income. In case you are sued for damages and injuries to persons, the legal fees can be so high that they can easily lead you to bankruptcy if you are not properly covered. Even if all your valuable assets are your car and your home, and the court would not normally require you to sell them in order to satisfy judgement against you, there will be placed a judgement lien against your home, which may wait till you eventually sell your home. This judgement lien may remain effective for as long as 20 years. Therefore it is vitally important to have Bodily Liability Insurance to be protected in court as well.

Read more: allinsuranceinfo.org.

Liability insurance expert witnesses may testify on personal liability insurance, automobile liability policies, and more. In Liability Insurance or Personal Umbrella Liability Policy, InsuranceLocal.com explains:

There are many factors to consider when calculation a premium: the state in which you live, the number of liability exposures you have (cars, drivers) etc. Usually the best rates occur when the customer insures both auto and home with the same insurance company and the personal umbrella liability policy. This is a requirement for many insurers offering umbrella coverage.

Read more: InsuranceLocal.com.

In The Advantages of Strategic Advisory Boards For Agency Owners insurance agencies expert witness Andres Barile, MBA, CPCU, writes:

Finding new insurance company markets – As the owner of a wholesale agency, you have put aside a specific budget for searching for new carriers and even investing in initial public offerings of newly-formed insurance holding companies. The strategic advisory director can help in identifying new insurance carriers that have just received their “A” rating, and are looking to build a new distribution system. This expertise is not with the owner of the agency, whether it be retailer, wholesaler, or managing general agency. The dedication to search out newly-formed insurance companies is an expertise, starting with knowing state insurance department officials. Your strategic advisory director can find new carriers better than you, the owner of the agency, can;

Read more: insuranceexpertnetwork.com.

In A Comparison of Self-Funded and Insured Health and Welfare Plans, health benefits expert witnessMark Johnson, J.D., Ph.D., ERISA Benefits Consulting, Inc., writes:

Under state law, insurance companies are regulated and are subject to rules governing benefits, network adequacy, prompt payment of claims, etc. Although fully insured plans in the private sector are still covered by ERISA they are also subject to state insurance regulation. While the state cannot tell an employer what the provisions must be in its ERISA plan, it can tell insurance companies what must be in policies they are authorized to sell; in essence back door regulation.
In a self-funded healthcare plan an employer provides health and other welfare benefits to employees with its own funds. For self-funded plans, the financial risk falls on the employer, with employee cost sharing arrangements similar to the insured plan, i.e. deductibles, co-payments and employee monthly contributions (the latter are functionally the same as premiums). The cost of the plan consists of benefits actually paid to health care providers, administrative fees, stop-loss premiums if the employer elects on an aggregate or individual basis to shift financial responsibility to an insurance policy after a trigger is met, and other variable costs.

Credit risk expert witnesses may opine on risk assessment, risk management, and risk analysis. In the news this week, CoreLogic debuted the new product, CoreScore Credit Report which they say will use public records to add previously hidden data not included in traditional credit reports. Lenders may soon have access to new details on credit behavior, e.g. rental history, taxes and child support payments.

Telecommunications expert witness David Lucantoni, Ph.D., DLT Consulting, writes on the most important items that need to be understood by both attorneys and infringement and validity experts.

1. Architecture for both the structures in the patent and of the accused infringing system – The hardware components need to be understood, ACD, VRU, CTI, etc. Are connections between components direct, through the PSTN, etc.?

2. Call or message flows – What are the specific messages, sequence, source and destination between components to achieve each important transaction under study.

General liability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and testify on acts of omission, risk financing, insurance policies, and associated matters. General liability insurance may be defined as:

Insurance policy that covers claims arising from an insured’s liability due to damage or injury (caused by negligence or acts of omission) during performance of his or her duties or business.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liability_insurance

Bodily injury coverage expert witnesses may opine on bodily injury claims, bodily liability insurance coverage, and related issues. allinsuranceinfo.org explains:

Bodily Injury Liability Insurance (BI) is a must on the roads. In most states purchasing a minimal amount of this coverage is a requirement. Bodily Injury Liability combined with Property Damage Liability coverage is the Auto Insurance policy basis.

Read more: allinsuranceinfo.org.