Expert Witness Blog

In Preparing and Presenting Expert Testimony, traffic engineer and accident reconstruction expert witness Lawrence Levine writes:

Case Preparation As Traffic Engineers, our goal is to provide safe movement on highways and streets. However, all too often accidents occur resulting in injuries and property damage, from which lawsuits often arise. The lawsuit, which in this case would either be criminal or civil, is the basic manner in which money is distributed and justice served to the injured parties. In a criminal case (involuntary manslaughter, for instance) the question is “who dunnit?” and “was it intentional – was there a motive – why did they do it?” A civil case, however, involves the question of “what were the proximate cause(s) which enabled the injuries and damages to occur?” An example of a civil case would be if a party’s vehicle hits a signal pole which is unprotected and installed too close to the road, and thereby becomes injured. These are two fundamentally different issues. The Criminal case generally deals with investigating people, determining wrongdoings, and consequently assigning blame and doling out punishment accordingly. Traffic Engineers can become involved in criminal cases as Accident Reconstructionists or in determining if there was some sort of criminal malfeasance in the construction of a project which consequently failed and caused injury. However, generally traffic engineers are involved as experts in civil cases where the injured party seeks relief through monetary judgments.

In The Role Of The Forensic Engineer, forensic engineering expert witness Philip J. O’Keefe, PE, MLE, writes:

Forensic engineers are much like scientific detectives. They are called on to conduct investigations and determine the causes of accidents, fires, equipment failures, safety system malfunctions, and structural collapses. Milton F. Lunch, the former General Council for the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) sums it up very well:

“Forensic engineering is the application of the art and science of engineering in the jurisprudence system, requiring the services of legally qualified professional engineers. Forensic engineering may include investigation of the physical causes of accidents and other sources of claims and litigation, preparing of engineering reports, testimony at hearings and trials in administrative or judicial proceedings, and the rendition of advisory opinions to assist the resolution of disputes affecting life or property.”

Disability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on managed care, HMOs, and insurance claims. Medical expert Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H. explains that for someone with fibromyalgia, it’s a difficult step to apply for disability and upsetting if an insurance company representative appears not to believe that they are actually very ill. He says the patient can improve their fibromyalgia disability claim by imagining themselves in the medical insurance examiner’s place.

Medical Expert Witness Issue #3:

With fibromyalgia, when you physically push through your limits the expected flare-up of symptoms might not occur right away. Often the flare-up is delayed for hours or even a day. This pattern of fibromyalgia disability is very different from that of most other illnesses. Insurance industry representatives and indeed many physicians– don’t yet understand this very basic fact.

Disability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on managed care, HMOs, and insurance claims. Medical expert Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H. explains that for someone with fibromyalgia, it’s a difficult step to apply for disability and upsetting if an insurance company representative appears not to believe that they are actually very ill. He says the patient can improve their fibromyalgia disability claim by imagining themselves in the medical insurance examiner’s place.

Medical Expert Witness Issue #1:

Your insurance company isn’t allowed to assume that you are telling the truth just because you say so. Insurance companies have learned by hard experience with other forms of illness that a few individuals exaggerate their symptoms. Therefore, a disability insurance company has not only the right, but an obligation to satisfy themselves that the claims they pay are, in fact, valid.