Expert Witness Blog

Insurance fraud expert witnesses may testify on insurance claims, insurance regulations, and associated matters. In this press release, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control announce that a former Lexington Medicaid provider has pled guilty to Medicaid fraud and forgery charges.

Irvin Smith, Jr. entered guilty pleas in Fayette Circuit Court today to one count of Medicaid fraud and three counts of second degree forgery. All are Class D felonies.

Smith, a behavior supports specialist, was the former owner, principal member/executive director and only employee of Irvco, LLC, a former provider in the Kentucky Medicaid SCL program. A SCL is a home through the Medicaid Community-based waiver program that serves as an alternative to institutional care for mentally challenged or developmentally disabled individuals.

On his website, trucking safety expert witness Lew Grill, the SAGE Corporation, offers a calculator for wind chill:

WIND CHILL: A measure of the cooling effect of wind. Wind increases the rate at which a body loses heat, so the air on a windy day feels cooler than the temperature indicated by a thermometer. This heat loss can be calculated for various combinations of wind speed and air temperature and then converted to a wind chill equivalent temperature (or wind chill factor).

In The Case for Forensic Polygraph Testing in Post-Adjudication Sexual Offender Examination and Management, polygraph expert witness Ken Blackstone writes:

In a pre-adjudication setting a suspect or person of interest may be asked to take a polygraph examination as a means of assessing his or her denials about being knowledgeable, involved or even responsible for the alleged crime. A witness or informant may be asked to submit to a polygraph for the purpose of assessing the accuracy or truth of information he or she has provided. Although “victim testing” by law enforcement is barred in some states, in others an alleged victim of a crime may be asked to take a polygraph test to determine the accuracy or truth of testimony to either support the conviction of a guilty person or prevent the wrongful prosecution of an innocent person. Thus, polygraph examinations are of great importance and impact on the tested individuals and the matters to which they offer evidence. These pre-adjudication situations are all alike in that there is an “issue at hand” and they are truly voluntary.

Ken Blackstone is an expert regarding polygraph examinations. He is the author of the book Polygraph, Sex Offenders, and the Court (2011, Emerson Books ISBN 978-061-5506-80-7). www.blackstonepolygraph.com

In Speaking English is Key to Safety construction safety expert witness Paul Gogulski, BSCE, PE, writes:

As an expert witness specializing in construction accidents, my observations include a very sensitive subject: the increased risk of accidents when a substantial number of workers on a site cannot speak the English language. Every general contractor knows the truth but few dare to openly express it: the more non-English speaking workers employed on site, the greater the risk of errors and accidents.

Even when a requirement for English-speaking foremen is included in the contract, this in itself is not enough to prevent accidents attributable to the hazards created by the barriers imposed by inadequate communication.

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

Legal and Tax Advice

• Selecting an insurance litigation law firm – The number of lawsuits between agents and insurance companies has dramatically increased over the past five years. Interviewing law firms for litigation purposes requires a type of expertise that agent owners do not have. Your strategic advisory board will only be as good as you, the agent owner, want it to be. It will be your responsibility to keep your board informed of situations that affect your agency.

In Child Abuse Pediatrics: A Certified Sub-Specialty In Pediatrics child abuse expert witnesses at Child Abuse Pediatrics Consulting Services write:

In choosing a quality medical expert for a family, criminal or malpractice matter involving sexual abuse, sexual assault, physical abuse, child neglect or child fatality, the attorney should have an understanding of current certifications in the field. On the initial call, the attorney should feel comfortable that the expert is objective, familiar with the wide body of child abuse literature, and comfortable providing education about your case.

Certifications

Risk assessment expert witnesses may testify on the risk management process, risk analysis, enterprise risk management, and associated matters. In Uncertainty in Probabilistic Risk Assessment: A Review, A.R. Daneshkhah writes:

Risk assessment is widely recognized as a systematic process for quantitatively (or qualitatively) describing risk. Risk is commonly described as a combination of the likelihood of an undesirable event (accident) occurring and its consequences. Alternatively, Kaplan (1997) expressed risk as a mathematical combination of an accident’s event probability of occurrence and the consequence of that event should it occur.

Read more: www.shef.ac.

Merchandise licensing expert witnesses may testify on merchandising, character images, and merchandising fees. In the news recently, U.S. District Judge David Carter, Santa Ana, CA, dismissed the latest Bratz lawsuit against Mattel Inc. MGA Entertainment Inc. accused Mattel of antitrust violations over MGA’s Bratz dolls.

Read more: www.cacd.uscourts.gov.