Expert Witness Blog

In Chest Pain & Medical Malpractice, medical malpractice expert witness Barry Gustin, M.D. writes:

On the other hand, older patients whose chest pain increases with palpation of the chest wall may not only have benign chest wall pain particularly if their history, physical exam or ancillary studies suggest a cardiac or pulmonary problem. The same holds true for patients who have a history of stomach ulcers or esophageal reflux and who gain some relief with anti-ulcer/reflux medications. The physician should be careful no to overlook symptoms, signs or other clues which may point to an underlying co-existing cardiac or pulmonary life-threatening illness.

Physicians should not rely too heavily on the electrocardiograms or cardiac enzymes in the ER. The medical literature is replete with studies demonstrating prior acute AMIs in patients with normal electrocardiograms. This phenomena occurs in from 5% to 20% of patients depending upon the study. Cardiac enzymes may be normal in the emergency room too but become elevated hours later because elevated levels are not detected until 4 to 8 hours after the heart muscle is damaged. Therefore, a normal or non-diagnostic ECG and normal cardiac enzymes can not rule out acute cardiac disease or negate the decision to admit a patient with a possible AMI.

Truck manufacturing industry expert witnesses may opine on commercial motor vehicles, trucking regulatory matters and related issues. In Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Eaton-Truck Maker Conspiracy, TruckstopUSA writes:

A class action lawsuit accuses truck makers of conspiring with Eaton Corporation to help Eaton maintain a monopoly in the Class 8 truck transmission market, forcing up the price of trucks containing Eaton transmissions.

On Oct. 4, the New York-based plaintiff’s law firm Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP filed a class action complaint in the U.S. Court for the District of Kansas on behalf of a nationwide class of Class 8 truck purchasers who indirectly bought Eaton transmissions by purchasing Class 8 trucks from October 2002 to the present.

Engineering expert witness Philip J. O’Keefe, PE, writes that pressurized vessels can pose a danger for various reasons.

Suppose for instance that the substance leaking from it is flammable or toxic. An example would be when propane gas leaking from a storage tank mixes with air surrounding the tank. This can create an explosive mixture, readily ignited by static electricity or a nearby ignition source, such as a spark from a worker’s tool. When a toxic substance is released by a leak into an occupied area, it can be inhaled or come into contact with skin eyes, nose, and mouth, where it can enter the body and injure or kill.

It might be obvious that toxic, flammable substances can prove threatening, but it is not quite as obvious that some nontoxic, nonflammable substances can be just as dangerous. For example, a substance can be heavier than air, and as it leaks out of the pressure vessel, it will roll along the floor, sinking into adjacent low spots such as basements and tunnels. This substance would then displace the air, creating a suffocation hazard for anyone who is unlucky enough to be there.

Call centers expert witnesses may opine on telemarketing, call center agents, computer telephony, and related topics. The National Association of Call Centers writes in their State of the Industry Report that in the 2nd quarter of 2010 more call center jobs were gained in the United States than were lost creating a five quarter long job recovery from the recession low of 4th quarter 2008.

The number of call centers opening versus closing was also positive indicating that the call center industry is on its way to an economic recovery and hopefully stability. The call center job losses were most pronounced in the Financial Services/Banking/Insurance vertical and with the largest growth coming from the Telecommunications sector. Some states, such as Arkansas, had a strong growth in call center jobs while states such as Ohio, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Oklahoma showed a loss of call center jobs.

Read more: NACC.com.

In Dram Shop Laws – Improving Public Safety, dram shop expert witness Maj. Mark Willingham of Alcohol Solutions, LLC, writes:

Laws exist in every state except Florida and Nevada that place criminal and/or administrative responsibility on the bar or the bartender/server to monitor the behavior of the drinker and their consumption of alcohol. Once a drinker reaches the point where he or she reaches various levels of intoxication, and therefore, loses the ability to make rational decisions, responsibility for insuring the drinker’s safety and those the drinker may harm, shifts to the retailer through criminal and/or administrative prohibitions. Under these administrative and/or criminal laws, the retailer becomes his brother’s keeper.

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have determined that their public policy interests are better served by placing some responsibility for over-service or over-consumption on the alcohol server or the licensee through the civil justice system. These dram shop laws provide a plaintiff legal standing to bring an action against a tort feasor for an alcohol related injury or death. Most instances that bring rise to a civil dram shop lawsuit stem from a traffic crash. Other causes of action, however, relate to homicide, sexual assault, and other incidents where the intoxicated patron loses the ability of self-regulation.

Risk management expert witnesses may write reports and opine on forecasting, credit risk, and market risk. Here, risk management is defined:

Risk assessment consists in an objective evaluation of risk in which assumptions and uncertainties are clearly considered and presented. Part of the difficulty of risk management is that measurement of both of the quantities in which risk assessment is concerned – potential loss and probability of occurrence – can be very difficult to measure. The chance of error in the measurement of these two concepts is large. A risk with a large potential loss and a low probability of occurring is often treated differently from one with a low potential loss and a high likelihood of occurring. In theory, both are of nearly equal priority in dealing with first, but in practice it can be very difficult to manage when faced with the scarcity of resources, especially time, in which to conduct the risk management process.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_assessment.

In Testifying as an expert witness in computer crimes cases, Deb Shinder writes:

If you’re an expert in computers, networking, and related matters, you might be able to qualify as an expert witness in court cases (both criminal and civil) that involve the use of computers and networks. Here’s what you can expect if you go the expert witness route.

NOTE: Prosecutors and defense teams also sometimes employ “consulting experts,” who provide technical explanations and opinion in helping the prepare the case, but don’t actually testify in court.

Aerosols expert witnesses may write reports and opine on aerosol sprays, airborne solid particles, and household chemicals. The National Aerosol Association describes the history of aerosols:

The first use for an aerosol package arose during World War II, but the idea of using low-pressure liquefied gas to atomize droplets of liquid in the air was developed in 1924. Canisters filled with insecticide and propellants were used to protect U.S. servicemen from insects carrying diseases such as malaria. Shortly after the war, Robert Abplanalp, founder of Precision Valve Corporation (PVC), invented the first mass-produced aerosol valve. The patent was filed in September 1949 and was issued on March 17, 1953. From that invention, the aerosol industry quickly developed in the United States and around the world.

Copyrights expert witnesses may opine on copyright infringement, copyright notice, and copyright limitations, among other topics. In The Basics Of Trademarks, Copyrights And Patents, IPComputerExpert.com writes:

A trademark refers to any forms of marks which are registered to the USPTO. These are names, devices, images, and word identifying any goods which can be produce, manufactured, or natural.

Copyright is a way of protecting both unpublished and published literary, artistic and scientific works, and any forms of expressions as long as it is tangible. It means you can touch it, hear it, or see it. An essay, a play, a song, funky original choreography, HTML coding, or graphics can be protected. Laws of copyright grant the creator’s exclusive rights to distribute, display, perform, reproduce, and prepare derivative works publicly.