Property insurance expert witness Burl Daniel, CPCU, CIC, CRM, writes that business owners require customized property insurance for:
* Buildings and Business Personal Property * Construction projects (Builders Risk, Inland Marine, Equipment Floaters)
* Cargo in transit over land or sea (Ocean and Inland Marine, import / export, offshore drilling rigs)
Trucking and transportation rules and regulations expert witness Lew Grill, SAGE Corporation, lists state motor vehicle codes on his website at: http://www.lewgrill.com.
In Are You Waiting Too Long To Hire An Expert?, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:
What an expert does not know can and likely will hurt your case. It is widely accepted knowledge that a good lawyer never asks a question to which they don’t already know the answer; so it is with an expert. By withholding facts or materials that you think are not relevant or may not enhance your case, you run the risk of allowing your expert to be ambushed, surprised and/or embarrassed. Expert witness testimony is invaluable and can be summed up in one word — credibility. You are better served by providing the expert everything.
The experienced and ethical expert is not interested in running up unnecessary bills to the client. They are concerned about having all the information, being kept informed about developments, and having access to the attorney or attorneys on the case. An open line of communication builds confidence for both the expert and the client and enables your expert to reach out to you with new ideas, discoveries and materials that provide for the best possible performance at depositions and trial. New technologies such as online meetings improve collaboration and reduce cost for travel.
In Executive Protection & Travel Security, risk assessment expert witness Ira S. Somerson, CPP, CSC, writes:
An executive protection program could involve the delivery of concise briefing statements to executives traveling abroad,
or having a crisis management response to the abduction or assassination of a key executive. The key is to assess the degree and nature of risks that affect strategic executives and, consequently, their organization. The goal is to prepare a reasonable and effective program to deter, deny, detect,
Trucking accidents expert witnesses may opine on qualifications of truck drivers, and federal motor vehicle safety standards, as well as related issues. In Driver Distraction Countermeasures, The American Transportation Research Institute writes:
As a follow-on to FMCSA-sponsored research that quantified and analyzed the role of cell phones in the trucking industry, ATRI is now participating on an FMCSA-sponsored research study to identify and assess different driver distraction countermeasures with an emphasis on technology-based distraction. The assessment will include the identification and efficacy of both existing and emerging countermeasure tools.
Read more: atri-online.org.
In Fraud Prevention & Ethics Programs, risk management plans expert witness Ira S. Somerson, CPP, CSC, writes:
The vast majority of organizations do have an ethics policy. But if you ask the employees of these organizations if they have read this policy, they will reluctantly confess that they did not even know that one existed! Fraud is preventable and the critical potential from this risk can be mitigated. Federal corporate sentencing guidelines specifically advise that the presence of a workable and active crime prevention program within the organization will bear significantly upon the verdict and size of penalty. An ethics policy and its procedures must be something that employees can rely upon on a day-to-day basis. The ingredients include providing employees with the capability to anonymously report concerns, giving employees availability to advice when concerned with ethical decisions, and providing awareness and orientation programs to new and existing staff. Of course, senior executives set the tone for this objective and their awareness of how they are perceived is critical to the message delivered. Fraud prevention is also a matter of defensive strategy. Specific audits or risk assessments that identify serious potential fraud may assist in narrowing defensive strategy focus.
Property insurance expert witness Burl Daniel, CPCU, CIC, CRM, writes on adequate coverage:
Property insurance seems simple enough – pay the premiums; settle the claim after the fire; replace the damaged home or commercial building. In reality, however, this coverage can be one of the most complex areas in all of Property and Casualty insurance.
Extensive knowledge of several types of policy forms is required to ensure proper structuring of coverage. Due to the wide variation in types and locations of buildings, contents, and Business Income exposures, a multitude of policy forms and endorsements exist to cover virtually any type of property. Expertise with all of these numerous forms – including Inland and Ocean Marine insurance – is necessary to structure coverage correctly.
In THE BUSINESS SECURITY TEST, night club security expert witness Robert A. Gardner, CPP, writes that “no business is totally immune from the threat of crime but a little prior planning and a few common sense precautions are all that is necessary to deter most criminals.”
Policies, Procedures & Training
1. Do you have a Workplace Violence Prevention Policy?
In Are You Waiting Too Long To Hire An Expert?, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:
Once the need for an expert becomes inevitable through fact pattern or because your adversary has made the choice for you by their strategy to use an expert, you should retain and consult with your expert as soon as possible. The earlier the expert is involved in the case the faster they become thoroughly familiar with significant facts. This advantage will often expose elements of your case that you may not have considered initially. Your expert should be able to give you an objective and detailed analysis of both the strengths and vulnerabilities that may be faced, specific to the areas of his or her expertise.
Waiting to choose an expert until later in the process runs the risk of being unable to retain the best candidate for your particular litigation. The most frustrating situation you can put your expert witness in is with a request to review extensive materials in an unrealistic time line and often where experts on the other side have been in place for some time and thus have a distinct advantage.
Disaster risk management expert witnesses may testify on loss of life and property damage from natural hazards. The 5th Annual Hazus Conference will be held on August 10-12, 2011 in Seattle, WA. The Hazus Conference, sponsored by FEMA Mitigation Division is the premier risk assessment conference for GIS specialists, emergency managers, geologists, state/local planners, educators and private entities that are using Hazus for decision-making and response planning.
Read more: hazus.org.
