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In The Attitude “Alarm Clock” wrongful termination expert witness Charles Conine writes on hiring and motivating employees.

Hoping that they will succeed we provide them the tools — and we wait. We wait for the new hire’s skills to sharpen, her mind to focus solely on the task at hand. Sometimes it does, and we reward the effort. When her mind wanders, we remind her that “this is work, you know; you can daydream later.” Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s when we bring out the big guns: “Keep up like this, and you will be out of a job,” we say, knowing that only some employees will hear, let alone care about this admonition. Others will not hear or not care. Some are so impertinent they simply walk off the job which may seem an attractive alternative to hearing the words “you’re fired…”

All great performers possess an attitude “alarm clock”. They know when it’s time to add effort and when to let others take the lead… Can we teach employees to possess an attitude “alarm clock?” The subject of much debate, this is. What is very clear, however, is that great attitudes are catchy, and where one resides, others will follow.

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In Managing Construction Quality, construction safety expert witness Pete Fowler provides:

SOME QUICK DEFINITIONS

• Scope of Work: Written documents, usually based on the plans and specs, which identify or clarify the project definition. These documents are attached to prime and trade contracts to establish who is doing what. In theory, the “Scope” for the prime contractor should include everything being sold to the owner, and all the trade contractor “scopes” in aggregate should include everything in the prime scope, less the GC’s self-performed work.

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In The Attitude “Alarm Clock” wrongful termination expert witness Charles Conine writes on hiring and motivating employees.

It’s all about mental attitude… When hiring, promoting, training and yes, even disciplining, watch the candidate or employee’s attitude. Some, as we all know, are timid about showing they care; with encouragement, however, they blossom. Others are natural leaders and will pick up every job you throw their way, do it, then ask for the next assignment. Others seem wooden, disinterested, unfocused; this group, needless to say, may not be your best new hires. You’re reaching them too late…

All great performers possess an attitude “alarm clock”. They know when it’s time to add effort and when to let others take the lead… Can we teach employees to possess an attitude “alarm clock?” The subject of much debate, this is. What is very clear, however, is that great attitudes are catchy, and where one resides, others will follow.

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In Basic Characteristics And “Life” of Residential Mortgage Loans mortgages expert witness J. F. “Chip” Morrow writes:

Secondary market investors are Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), private conduits, or investors who purchase mortgage-backed, long-term investment instruments made up of pooled individual residential mortgage loans.

Loan administrator/servicer is an institution servicing and acting for the benefit of ultimate investors regarding the mortgage loans. Functions include collection of payments for borrowers, customer service, advancing funds for delinquent loans, and taking defaulting properties through the foreclosure process. For example, a borrower would go to a mortgage broker who would take an application and process the loan request by collecting all the other necessary information from the borrower. Then the mortgage broker would send the application along with the information he collected from the borrower to the mortgage banker, which would then underwrite the loan utilizing the three “C”s ─ collateral, capacity, character. After a complete underwriting and approval including PMI insurance, if the LTV is greater than 80 percent, the funder (in most cases the same as the underwriter) would then fund and close the mortgage loan. At this point the mortgage banker would either retain the loan for its own portfolio or sell the loan to secondary market investors, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

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In WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, medical expert witness C. Paul Sinkhorn, MD, FACOG, writes that with the internet, patients have the opportunity to become experts on certain diseases, particularly their own. Tom Ferguson, editor of The Ferguson Report: The Newsletter of Online Health, observes, “A doctor may have a working knowledge of 50 conditions and be able to treat, with some consultation, another 200. A patient only needs to know about one.”

We will be challenged to keep up with our patients’ questions like never before. Sometimes I am relentlessly cross-examined by these Internet-empowered patients. While pleased that they take responsibility for their health care, and remembering the intoxication of newly acquired wisdom, I deplore pop knowledge masquerading as legitimate medical tenet. Internet armed patients’ cutting-edge knowledge creates loftier expectations. Every attorney with Internet access can research all relevant medical literature on a potential medical malpractice case in less than an hour, including multiple medical expert witnesses‘ opinions and immediate analysis of strengths and weaknesses. There’s nothing wrong with that, and medical expert witnesses should welcome better prepared.

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In Basic Characteristics And “Life” of Residential Mortgage Loans mortgages expert witness J. F. “Chip” Morrow writes:

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) provider provides insurance protecting the mortgage investors against financial loss occasioned by a borrower defaulting on the mortgage loan. PMI insurance is required for any loan with a loan-to-value of higher than 80%. The PMI provider can either underwrite each loan itself or delegate this responsibility to the mortgage banker/underwriter. The PMI provider has no direct relationship with the borrower or the mortgage broker. The PMI provider relies on the mortgage banker who in turn relies on the mortgage broker for information for underwrite. In this instance, the underwriting of the PMI insurance underwriting was delegated to the mortgage banker, which further enhances the need for the PMI provider to be able to rely on the mortgage banker to ensure that the loan is properly underwritten.

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Sports medicine expert witnesses warn that the person you entrust your body may have little or no training in exercise science and physiology. “It’s scary,” says Walter Thompson, professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University in Atlanta. “My gosh, they license my haircutter, why not the person making me push 200 pounds over my head?” Both Thompson and Marc Rabinoff, chairman of the department of human performance at Denver’s Metropolitan State College, have seen cringe-worthy bodily damage in their roles as in personal-trainer injury cases.

“I’ve seen people permanently disabled by trainers,” Thompson says. “One case I did was when a personal trainer had someone exercise with one muscle group too much, and that person wound up in intensive care with rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown that leads to kidney failure). I’m seeing that more and more when I testify in court. People are getting hurt.”

Excerpted from TheSacramentoBee.

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In Art Is For All: A Brief Look At Art Collecting Through The Ages, personal property valuation expert witness and owner of Thomas Charles Editions of Phoenix, AZ, Lisa A. Barnes, writes on how art is valued:

Conventional wisdom has it that all areas of art collecting can occasionally suffer eclipses but eventually return to favor. From the collector’s point of view, the theoretical solution has always been simply to buy “good art,” works that will transcend the whims of fashion and stand the tests of time. This lead us to the inevitable questions; what makes art good, and who gets to decide? It is probably safe to say that technical achievement in art will always be valued, and will always be rediscovered. Beyond that, there is only educated opinion – and it is constantly changing.

There are simply no eternal verities in art. A Rembrandt may be worth more than a Murillo, yet prices for works by Old Masters, however rare their appearance on the market, have lagged behind Contemporary American artists and the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. During the 1980’s, a Jackson Pollock sold for more than a Rembrandt or a Leonardo Da Vinci. In 1986, a single Jasper Johns, “Out the Window,” painted in 1959, sold for $3.63 million, the exact same amount as Da Vinci’s “Lamb,” one of two authenticated works still in private hands. It was private buyers that changed the rules…

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become an important tool for hydrology and groundwater expert witnesses. An especially useful application of GIS concerns water quality in groundwater. In the case of groundwater contamination and the need for subsequent containment and cleanup of the contaminant, an existing framework of the groundwater system would be valuable in planning remediation measures.

An example concerning the use of GIS addresses a common problem associated with groundwater pumping and land subsidence or intrusion in coastal areas. Areas that have been overpumped of groundwater can subside, and when near the sea, this may invite flooding. Also, overpumping of groundwater in coastal regions may bring a different problem, such as the case in California where salt-water intrusion has compromised the aquifer. Generally, a salt water interface inland of the coast extends below the land surface dependent on the distance from the coast. Overpumping can bring the salt water interface to a higher position and contaminate an aquifer.

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In Robertson v. Princeton, descendants of donor Marie Robertson and her husband, Princeton class of 1926 alumnus Charles Robertson, sued Princeton University to redirect the funds she gave to create the Robertson Foundation for the benefit of Princeton University in 1961. Princeton estimates that it spent more than $40 million in pre-trial costs and that a trial and appeal will cost an additional $20 million for both sides.

Princeton produced nearly half a million pages of electronic and print documents in the discovery phase of the case. Finance expert witnesses gave reports and there were more than 5,000 trial exhibits identified. The University’s defense costs not covered by insurance, will be reimbursed by the Robertson Foundation.