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Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on federal motor carrier safety regulations, the truck manufacturing industry, qualifications of truck drivers, and related topics. Transport Topics offers trucking and freight transportation news and this week reports:

A new, higher speed limit in Kansas could cause safety problems if trucks are governed at lower speeds than the new limit, the head of the state’s trucking association said. Kansas set a new 75 mph speed limit on rural stretches of some interstate highways and other freeways effective July 1, its Department of Transportation said in a release.

The new limit applies to all vehicles on the highway, though trucks with speed limiters would still travel slower than other highway traffic, said Tom Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association.

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A Pueblo district judge disqualified two expert witnesses in the attempted-murder trial of Robert Bruce, one of whom was an expert in the field of propane gas. District Judge David Crockenberg ruled that the Pueblo, CO, district attorney’s office failed to provide notice and share the results of the experts’ testing with Bruce’s defense team in a timely manner.

Bruce is set to go on trial July 19 for attempting to blow up the home of Pueblo police officer Nathan Pruce on Oct. 6, 2009.

Read more: chieftan.com.

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Accident reconstruction expert witness Sgt. Billy Richmond testified in the murder trial of Glenn Doneghy, 34, accused of hitting and killing officer Bryan J. Durman April 29, 2010. Richmond, supervisor of the collision reconstruction unit that investigates serious-injury and fatal crashes, explained why a re-enactment of the crash was performed last month – more than a year after the collision.

Several officers who investigated the collision testified in Fayette Circuit Court, KY, about evidence they found linking murder defendant Glenn Doneghy’s vehicle to the crash.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com.

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Insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on property insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and insurance companies. President Obama has nominated an insurance expert to further fill out the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). The White House announced Friday that the president intends to nominate Roy Woodall, a former state insurance commissioner and Treasury Department official, to serve as an insurance expert on the council.

Read more: thehill.com.

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Texas justices seated on the Ninth Court of Appeals recently affirmed a lower court’s order rejecting Pinnacle Healthcare’s argument that the plaintiffs’ medical expert reports are inadequate.

Delores Calvin and Herman Johnson sued The Oaks at Beaumont and one of its doctors in June 2009, alleging their mother died from shock after being given incorrect dosages of anticoagulants.

Read more: setexasrecor.com.

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In Opinion analysis: New curb on crime lab reports, journalist Lyle Denniston writes:

A closely divided Supreme Court on Thursday continued its pattern of restricting prosecutors’ use of out-of-court statements to get criminal convictions, ruling that a report of a crime lab is valid evidence only if the technician who did the testing or observed it – not a substitute witness – is called to the stand.

Read more: scotusblog.com

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Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on federal motor carrier safety regulations, the truck manufacturing industry, qualifications of truck drivers, and related topics. Transport Topics offers trucking and freight transportation news and this week reports:

The National Labor Relations Board has proposed changes to federal rules governing union organizing elections, including limiting the time employers have to fight representation votes, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

“The proposed amendments are designed to fix flaws in the board’s current procedures that build in unnecessary delays, allow wasteful litigation, and fail to take advantage of modern communication technologies,” a statement on NLRB’s website said.

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An Arizona jury convicted a self-help guru Wednesday for the deaths of three clients during a 2009 sweat lodge ceremony that went horribly awry. Medical examiners Drs. Archaius Mosley and Robert Lyon, emergency room physician Dr. Brent Cutshall, the State’s expert witness Dr. Matthew Dickson and defense expert Dr. Ian Paul testified as key medical witnesses in the negligent homicide trial.

Read more: slatestslate.com.

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Psychiatry expert witness Dr. Gerard Figurelli testified Monday in the defense case of Police Officer Joseph Rios III. Figurelli testified that medical records indicate alleged beating victim Ronnie Holloway suffered from a host of schizophrenic symptoms through the years that included violence while prosecutors argue that Ronnie Hollaway was the victim of the Passaic police officer’s excessive use of force.

Read more: northjersey.com.

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U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash, (ND Georgia) refused to disqualify several experts and attorneys in an antitrust litigation stemming from a patent dispute over AndroGel, a medication used to increase testosterone production. The plaintiffs, direct purchasers or the medication, wish to retain Dr. Bozena Michniak-Kohn and Dr. Howard Maibach as expert witnesses in topical drug delivery.

In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ application for an exclusive three-year license to sell AndroGel for the treatment of male hypogonadism, a medical condition in which the body fails to produce normal levels of testosterone.

Read more: courthousenews.com.

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