Expert Witness Blog

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.

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

Carrier Relationships

• Negotiating existing insurance carrier agency agreements – Your retail insurance agency has just received the bad news that your largest carrier is leaving the state because of reinsurance costs and insurance product pricing. As the owner of the agency, you turn to your strategic advisory board to come up with a solution to delay the carrier’s withdrawal from the state. In fact, the strategic director would be aware of the carrier withdrawal before it makes the decision to withdraw. Experienced strategic directors know all the signs because they have experienced this before in their younger years. Delaying the withdrawal means commission dollars saved, and value added;

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:

Employee welfare benefit plans can be either fully insured, or self-funded. This article explains and compares the differences between the two types.

Most companies have a fully insured employee benefit plan, where the employer arranges for health coverage from an insurance company. The insurance company assumes the risk for payment of claims based on an actuarial analysis of the policy terms and covered group. The insurance company collects a monthly premium, which is typically shared by the employer and the employee, and pays for claims based on the policy terms. The covered employee is responsible for any deductibles and co-payments.

Indemnity expert witnesses may opine on indemnification, indemnity health insurance, and associated matters. ProfessionalIsuranceIndemnity.org writes:

The term professional indemnity has many definitions ranging from a sum of money paid for damages caused by a professional in the course of his or her work to a legal exemption for liability for damages. Irrespective of the definition, however, professional indemnity insurance covers you for any financial claims made against you for your actions carried out in the course of your professional duties.

What if you were not personally responsible for any errors made by your employees, or even contractors employed by you to carry out certain work? What then? Are you still liable in law? In a simple word, yes! So who comes under the umbrella of ‘professional”?

Insurance industry expert witnesses may write reports and testify on property insurance, insurance regulations, casualty insurance, and long term care insurance. On its website, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners offers a free newswire service with daily insurance news delivered to your email.

Subscribe to the NAIC NewsWire here: http://www.naic.org/newswire_archive.htm

In Guaranteed Maximum Contracts construction expert witness Paul Gogulski explains the the G-Max contract:

There is another reason for using the G-Max contract system: It is the best vehicle for recovering cost when pricing on extras becomes unreasonable. The fact that owners have tremendous leverage on extras is not often mentioned among users, perhaps because it is a business advantage. Consider once again the outrageous cost for a new door. Assume that the contractor wants $1,500 to cut the hole and install a new door, plus another $50,000 to relocate the 4-inch gas pipe that nobody knew existed. Assume also that the true cost of the piping relocation is only $10,000, but the contractor will not back off his estimate. The work must start and he demands approval.

Under lump sum contracts owner’s haven’t got much choice, but under the G Max system, even if you agree to the $50,000, all you’ve given away is the difference in fees, or $2,400 instead of $40,000. Once the work is complete and true cost is known, even this can be adjusted. There’s a strong incentive here to be honest. Nothing like it exists with any other format. Cost plus contracts claim to be the same, but in reality they do not have any incentive for shared savings or efficiencies.

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

Forming an agent-owned captive insurance company – Your retail insurance agency has been writing errors and omissions on real estate appraisers with a consistent 25 percent loss ratio, and you want to recapture some of the underwriting profit into your own agent-owned captive insurance company. You require a complete feasibility study, and want to raise the capital for the captive insurance company through a private placement memorandum. The technical task of structuring the feasibility study for the agent-owned captive can be delegated to the strategic advisory board. Should you use Arizona or Vermont, or even Hawaii as your domestic domicile? Do you want to own a Cayman Island agency captive, or Barbados? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each domicile, or shore and offshore? The strategic advisory director has all the answers to let you proceed with this concept to enhance value.

Read more: insuranceexpertnetwork.com.