Long term care insurance expert witnesses may provide reports concerning managed care, health insurance, long term care insurance,and associated matters. On their website, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance explains:
Most consumers do not know they must “health qualify” for long-term care insurance. There is a saying, your money pays for long-term care insurance – but your health buys it. Your health is the single most important factor.
Read more: aaltci.org.
Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on truck driver qualifications, federal motor vehicle safety standards, as well as related issues. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, demanding they address serious concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The letter comes in response to a report published by the Inspector General on the cross border trucking “pilot” program. The IG’s report showed that FMCSA was not yet prepared to launch a pilot program with the strict level of scrutiny and monitoring of safety performance mandated by Congress. The agency has yet to transmit a report to Congress outlining the steps taken to address the shortfalls.
Read more: defazio.house.gov.
Arborist expert Neville Fay MA , MICFor, MArborA, FLS, FRSA, principal arboricultural consultant and company director at Treework Environmental Practice, describes the loss of mature trees:
We are really endangering our native-grown trees by bringing in diseases which our trees never evolved to cope with.
One of the biggest pressures on our trees is us – through things like pollution and trenching of roots. We are not managing our urban environment with enough water for trees.
On his website, flammble materials expert witness William E. Gale, Jr., PhD, PE, CSP, CFEI, CFII, writes on computer fire modeling.
Modeling fires and explosions is a computer-intensive process requiring many gigabytes of RAM to implement the computational process, and significant hard drive space to store the results. Simple fire models can be run on a desktop system; however, more complex problems may take weeks to run on desktop PCs and work stations. Multiple computers linked together in parallel and arranged as a computer cluster is the proper venue for providing efficient and effective modeling capabilities.
On his website, combustion expert witness William E. Gale, Jr., PhD, PE, CSP, CFEI, CFII, writes on Fire Testing.
Small scale testing, also referred to as bench scale testing, can show how a small-sized material specimen reacts to various failure modes and/or incipient fire situations. Flammability and fire retardancy on a comparative basis may be of interest, or conformance with specific ASTM testing requirements. Medium and large scale testing, however, may be warranted for data development. With the use of sophisticated data acquisition systems and equipment involving radiometers, thermocouples, infrared thermal imaging cameras, oxygen depletion sensors, Intermediate Scale Calorimeters (ICAL) and other similar devices, BG&S can provide the needed foundational basis for applying the scientific method in the investigative process as called for by NFPA 921.
On his website, explosions expert witness William E. Gale, Jr., PhD, PE, CSP, CFEI, CFII, writes on Fire Testing.
Fire testing can provide critically important data to the fire scientist and fire investigator that cannot be derived in any other way. Testing also provides a platform for meaningful material behavior analyses where variables such as fuel package configurations and arrays, ventilation conditions, and thermal inertia effects are of interest.
In Are You Waiting Too Long To Hire An Expert?, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:
Finally, there is the all important expert report. A logical, detailed, well-structured and well- written report can promote settlement. On the other hand, a hurried expert analysis is frequently flawed, inconsistent and poorly written, allowing an opposing attorney to have a field day questioning as to inaccuracies and conflicting statements and challenging the credibility of the expert. Allowing the expert sufficient time to make sure his or her thoughts are clear and all the pertinent facts along with opinion, conclusions and supporting evidence are presented in an easy to read and understandable fashion is essential.
Experts must be objective. The expert’s goal is to search for facts, expose the truth and provide opinion and conclusion based on them. Selecting the right expert for your needs is not always easy. The diligent, experienced trial counsel will engage and retain the expert early in the litigation process, which pays invaluable dividends.
Licensed engineers expert witnesses may write reports and testify on engineering document responsibility, professional engineers, design reviews, and correlated matters. In Client Expectations of Perfection, The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Risk Management Committee writes:
Negligence vs Errors and Omissions
One major aspect of this problem is the term errors and omissions.” Clients know design professionals purchase professional liability insurance, which to the client should cover any deviation that could be deemed an error or omission. But, clients do not attach the term “negligent” to qualify an “error or omission.” Clients argue any deviation that has caused a loss or cost is an “error or omission” and the design professional needs to be monetarily accountable, regardless of the actual responsiveness of the insurance policy. (Professional liability insurance policies typically have significant deductibles and exclude coverage for warranties, penalties, liquidated damages, and other liabilities design professionals assume by contract alone.)
Psychology expert witness Walter Quijano testified in the murder trial of Duane Buck whose execution has now been blocked by the US Supreme Court. The high court ruled that Quijano had introduced racial bias into the case in 2000.
Professional engineering expert witnesses may write reports and testify on engineering document responsibility, licensed engineers, design reviews, and correlated matters. In Client Expectations of Perfection, The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Risk Management Committee writes:
Design professionals are required by law to meet the existing standard of care in the performance of their professional services. Many clients have elevated expectations of performance to a level beyond the legal definition of standard of care; to the extent it is becoming more common for clients to expect design professionals to produce “perfect” deliverables. This is evident in both public and private contracts in which clients request or demand contract terms that: 1) establish an unreasonably high standard of care; 2) indemnify the client for anything connected with design services; and/or 3) require any and all “deficiencies” be corrected at no cost to the client.
Read more: acec.org.
