Expert Witness Blog

In THE PERFECT STORM: The Science Behind Subrogating Catastrophic Flood Losses, hydrology expert witness Richard Van Bruggen writes:

Federal flood insurance was first made available in 1968 through the enactment of the National Flood Insurance Act.4 Prior to this program, affordable private flood insurance was generally not available. Under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), federally subsidized flood insurance is made available to owners of flood-prone property in participating communities. These participating communities are required to adopt certain minimum floodplain management standards and programs, including restrictions on new developments and designated floodways, a requirement that new structures in the 100-year flood zone be elevated to or above the 100-year flood level5, and a requirement that subdivisions are designed to minimize exposure to flood hazards. For highhazard coastal zones, additional standards are imposed, sometimes including the requirement that buildings be elevated on pilings and that the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) include potential wave heights.

Depending on type of system used and data computed, this information is invaluable to crash reconstruction efforts. Each system develops reports in multiple formats that can be deciphered for indisputable information that can prove or disprove action of the driver or vehicle involved in a crash. These systems are similar to an airplane’s ” black box”. This article gives examples and explanations of items of importance that need to be addressed and data that may be available in these systems for use in large truck crash reconstruction.

1.Identify vehicles, both trucks and trailers – serial numbers, gross vehicle weight ratings {GVWR}, date of manufacture model numbers, company numbers, fuel tax sticker {IFTA}, DOT numbers and ICC/MC numbers.

2.Complete photos of vehicles, truck and trailer, not just damaged areas. Photos of crash scene and pavement area including skid marks. Do not attribute skid marks until it is determined if unit or units are equipped with “ABS” brakes and “ABS” is functional. Tractor could be “ABS”, trailer could not have “ABS” or visa versa.

Electrical expert witness David J. Marne, P.E., is the author of McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®) Handbook. Here he answers the question:

Do communications utility workers and power utility workers need to follow the NESC® or OSHA rules?

Both.

In Mold, Housing and Wood, building materials experts at the Western Wood Products Association write:

Other conditions can increase the amount of mold spores in the indoor air of buildings. Homes with exposed-dirt crawl spaces and basements tend to have more airborne mold spores than homes without (Lumpkins, 1973; Su, 1992). With the right humidity conditions, some molds can grow on house dust. It is not surprising, then, that poor housekeeping and high indoor humidity are both associated with increased levels of airborne mold spores (Solomon, 1975; Kozak, 1979).

The biggest source of indoor mold spores is often the outdoor air (Solomon, 1975). Higher levels of indoor mold spores tend to be found in homes with yards having dense and overgrown landscaping (Kozak, 1979).

In Driver Fatigue is the Number One Safety Issue in the Truck and Bus Industry, fatigue expert witness Dennis Wylie writes:

The Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Fatigue and Alertness Study

The importance of driver fatigue led the U.S. Department of Transportation and Transport Canada to commission the largest, most comprehensive over-the-road study of driver fatigue and alertness ever conducted. Dennis Wylie was the Principal Investigator, and he and his associates designed, executed, and documented a study involving 80 U.S. and Canadian tractor-trailer drivers in an operational setting of real-life, revenue-generating trips totaling more than 200,000 miles and 4,000 hours of driving. The scientists monitored the drivers and trucks continuously by electronic instrumentation. The study focused on several work-related factors, including:

In Parts Produced by an Owner or Operator. Are They Legal? aircraft operations expert witness David A Botich writes on how owners may keep their aircraft airworthy if parts are unavailable or otherwise unobtainable:

As this has been a subject that many have asked “how do I do this?”, the Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, AGC-200 of the FAA has written a Memo addressing this issue. I will summarize the main points of concern here.

1. Only the owner/operator can produce the part for their aircraft. They cannot produce that part for sale or for another aircraft.

In Apartment Security and Litigation: Key Issues, criminalistics expert witness Daniel B. Kennedy writes on the nature of premises liability litigation in an apartment setting:

Criminologists and security specialists are very important in premises liability for negligent security litigation (Kennedy and Homant, 1996). Although the role of criminologists and security specialists in litigation has been criticized (Godwin and Godwin, 1984; Ingraham,
1987), it is often difficult to present or defend a premises liability case without the presentation of testimony by an expert. For example, before a duty even arises, a judge must be convinced that a given crime was foreseeable; that there was a reasonable likelihood or an appreciable chance that victimization would occur (Homant and Kennedy, 1994). Information to that effect can be presented through a criminologist who analyzes prior crime patterns at a location or in its surrounding neighborhood. The principle here is that the best way to forecast future crime at a location is to examine prior crime at a location. A criminologist may also examine certain land uses, architecture, socioeconomic characteristics, and general ecology of a neighborhood in order to establish the presence of crime correlates (Kennedy, 1993).

In THE PERFECT STORM: The Science Behind Subrogating Catastrophic Flood Losses, floods expert witness Richard Van Bruggen writes:

Most standard property policies and flood policies contain subrogation clauses which prohibit the insureds from giving up any rights to recover from any entities that may be responsible for a flood loss. Impairment of an insurer’s subrogation rights, which should be looked for in contracts, leases, or other agreements which the insured entered into, discharge the insurer from any obligation to make a payment under the policy. This became a big issue with Hurricane Katrina.
Owners and mortgagee should be careful not to sign releases that might impair the subrogation rights of their insurers.