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In Understanding How Materials Fail: Stress v. Fatigue, forensic engineering expert witness Clyde C. Richard, Ph.D., P.E., writes on material failure:

This overload of the material can contribute to an immediate accident or accelerate the breakdown of the materials. This is why most tow hitches are supplied with warnings, ratings and consumer education material. The second failure mechanism is fatigue. Fatigue is a phenomenon leading to fracture under repeated or fluctuating stresses having a maximum value less than the ultimate strength of the material. Fatigue fractures are progressive, beginning as minute cracks that grow with the application of cyclic stress.

During the visual inspection, the expert views the material under increasing magnifications to look for stress or fatigued related evidence such as plastic deformation, tearing, brittleness and necking. Necking is found in ductile metals or flexible metals where an extreme stress has been applied. Engineering experts can also perform a series of tests using an Emission Spectroscope, a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and/or Tensile Testing Machines to determine a material’s composition and strength.

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When hiring the mechanical engineering expert witness, explain your client’s goals in the case. The expert also needs to hear your approach to the case. It may be that the expert’s opinion is against your own so it is advisable to find this out before the expert sees your case documents.

It is also a good idea to research any advertising the expert may have. Get copies of ads from the expert to determine how he or she may present themselves in front of a jury. They will not respond well to an expert who appears to be a “hired gun.” An expert’s own web site should be carefully reviewed prior to retaining them. Is there anything embarrassing or contradictory on the site? Does the expert pronounce that he or she “is the leader in the industry” or put forth similar bravado that could affect how the jury perceives the expert? Imagine how the jury would react if the pages of the expert’s web site were displayed as exhibits at trial – because they very well could be.

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In Understanding How Materials Fail: Stress v. Fatigue, forensic engineering expert witness Clyde C. Richard, Ph.D., P.E., writes on material failure:

Today, in most product liability cases in the court system or with insurance companies, the alleged cause of the accident is either misuse or material failure. Accidents including people falling off ladders, chairs or bicycles and the failure of machinery and motorized vehicles can be caused by or contributed by material failure. Materials such as metals, plastics, ceramics and glass can fail immediately or breakdown over time through two different mechanisms: stress and fatigue.

Stress, or what some experts call a fracture, is when someone or something applies a load that exceeds the ultimate strength of a material. An example would be a tow hitch on a car that is rated for 3,000 lbs. and the user pulls a load of 9,000 lbs.

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In Treadmill Accidents: Allegations for Product Defects, equipment and machinery expert witness Clyde C. Richard, Ph.D., P.E., writes that treadmills continue to be one of the major causes of liability claims in the health club industry today and that accidents involving treadmills in homes are causing an increasing number of injuries as well. His company was retained to investigate a treadmill accident where the homeowner purchased a commercial treadmill and two years later set it up in a small confined space.

The plaintiff was exercising when they fainted, fell off the treadmill, was pushed to the rear and pinned against the wall, sustaining major injures as a result. The allegation in the complaint was that the manufacturer designed a defective product because it should have included a safety device other than the string pull or dead man switch that would protect a person who fell while exercising…

The engineer…obtained the installation guide and owner’s manual and determined that both had specific instructions to allow five to ten feet behind the treadmill for clearance in the event of a fall. A site inspection showed that the treadmill was installed with only 19 inches of clearance. A history of fainting revealed during the plaintiff’s deposition only heightened the importance of the manufacturer’s warnings. The insight and research of the engineer allowed the treadmill manufacturer to be dismissed from the case. Treadmills, like any other moving piece of equipment can be dangerous if the warning and safety precautions are not followed.

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In Managing Construction Quality, construction safety expert witness Pete Fowler describes how “the good old days” are gone and construction professionals are now living in a new world:

• Consumers expect increasing quality and decreasing prices in all products.

• The building industry is not keeping pace with the quality and price advances many industries are making.

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In Assessing the Truth: How Forensic Psychiatrists and Psychologists Evaluate Litigants, Dr. Mark Levy, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and ADA expert writes:

Unlike a treating clinician whose mission is to alleviate suffering and, thus, when called to testify, is appropriately an advocate for his patient, the forensic psychiatrist and psychologist have a different mission: our task is to determine as accurately as possible what is objectively true with regard to diagnosis, the medical course, treatment and prognosis, based upon clinical evidence. Accurate diagnosis is all important. The other opinions such as course, prognosis and treatment flow from this.

Modern medicine is evidence-based and so too is modern forensic psychiatry. It is no longer enough for an expert to simply rely upon his authority and say, in effect, “I have been in practice for 30 plus years and have earned this and that degree and credential and honor, therefore what I say is true, is true because I say so.” Today, an expert must be prepared to answer the underlying question, “Upon what objective clinical evidence, Doctor, do you base your opinions and conclusions?”

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

In today’s real estate mortgage market, it is essential that the expert understand, be fully aware of, and cognizant of the entities involved and their roles in initiating, processing, underwriting and funding all types of prime and subprime residential mortgage loans including ones. In addition, the stages that a prime and subprime residential mortgage loans processes through during its “life” are also crucial…

A mortgage banker underwrites the risk involved in making a mortgage loan to determine whether the borrower satisfies the loan underwriting guidelines for the loan program and to ensure the associated risks are acceptable. After underwriting approval, the mortgage banker funds and closes the mortgage loan. Then the mortgage banker either sells/ships the mortgage loan to the investor or retains it in its own portfolio. In addition, the mortgage banker performs a quality control audit on a statistical sampling of the closed mortgage loans to detect fraud and to insure compliance with policies and procedures.

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Dr. Mark Levy, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and ADA expert writes:

Assessing the Truth: How Forensic Psychiatrists and Psychologists Evaluate Litigants

Forensic psychiatrists and psychologists are mental health professional who have undergone addition training and have obtained advanced credentials in forensic psychiatry and psychology from their respective professional certifying boards. Their practice, like the practice of law, is divided into broad criminal and civil areas. In the criminal arena, forensic psychiatric and psychological experts are usually asked to opine about questions of capacity and sometimes, during sentencing, on mitigation. In the civil arena, forensic practice is more broad, covering, like your Bar Association does, many individual sections of legal practice, from probate to personal injury to family to employment law.

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1. Use a written agreement. If possible, specify a limit the expert cannot go over without your approval.

2. Expert fees will include travel time, travel expenses, and preparation.

3. Note that the expert’s fee for testimony may be higher than for reviewing a file and that the rate for appearing in court is usually per diem.

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