Expert Witness Blog

In Planning a Fire Investigation, fire expert witness and Principal of Pyrocop Inc., Robert Rowe writes:

Whether you are a seasoned fire expert or just getting into the business, the need to properly plan your fire investigation is critical to its outcome. As quoted by Benjamin Franklin, commonly referred to as the “father of the fire service”, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

As a Fire expert, one must always carefully consider their resources prior to the commencement of his or her investigation and plan accordingly. Factors effecting the planning of a fire investigation may include but are not limited to, the complexity of the fire, size of the fire scene, cost associated with performing a thorough investigation and the need for additional assistance or other experts.

In Madoff Investor Alerts, securities expert witness Chris McConnell, AIFA, writes on fiduciary duty:

Breach of Fiduciary Duty (BFD) is pervasive in today’s volatile financial environment, primarily due to two elements: 1) investment pros have not been properly trained, if at all, in the standards of fiduciary responsibility, and 2) some are allowed to operate “under the radar” as “investment professionals” without proper credentials or licensing. Particularly troubling, the elderly, women and charities are often the targets of fraud and scams. Cultural and religious affinity scams, similar to Madoff’s targeting of Jewish charitable groups and donors, are on the rise due to feeder fund agents’ infiltration into social, religious and philanthropic causes; often with ulterior motives.

BFD (Breach of fiduciary duty) is often the root cause of investor’s losses “Any asset, at any time, in any type of account, at any financial institution, may become subject to fiduciary duty standards, including real estate, securities, futures, insurance policies (life and annuity), intellectual property; or even closely-held businesses and partnerships.”

A U.S. court has ruled that a vaccination for certain childhood diseases is not linked to autism, as claimed by parents of children who suffer from the brain disorder. The ruling Thursday is a blow to at least 4,800 families who have filed similar claims and are seeking compensation through the government’s “Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.” VOA.com also reports:

The special court in Washington ruled Thursday against the parents of three children, saying the families had failed to prove their claims. In his decision, the special master, George L. Hastings Jr., ruled that the government’s medical expert witnesses were “far better qualified, far more experienced and far more persuasive” than the Cedillos’. Although the family had to show only that the preponderance of evidence was on their side, Mr. Hastings ruled that the evidence was “overwhelmingly contrary” to their argument.

In Clinical Standards in Medicine medical expert witness Barry E. Gustin, MD, MPH, FAAEM, writes:

Medical negligence litigators seek to establish which clinical standards are pertinent to their case, define what these clinical standards are, and then set out to demonstrate how the clinical standards were not followed.

Historically, from the physicians’ point of view, the issue of “clinical standards” has evoked much apprehension and concern. Physicians claim, and with some fervor, that creating specific standards of care can not be done because each patient is unique, the variables are often myriad and complex, and the deductive reasoning and creative process which leads to a successful diagnosis and treatment would be hindered. They further argue that clinical standards will ultimately increase physicians’ liability exposure and thus will do more harm than good.

In Challenges in Recovering Deleted Email, electronic discovery expert witness Steve Burgess writes:

Both computer forensics experts and data recovery technicians seek to recover deleted data. Data recovery is primarily interested in bringing back files, while computer forensics tends to dig deeper, looking not just for deleted documents, but also for metadata (data about data – such as file attributes, descriptions, dates, and other information) and meaningful snippets of unrecoverable files. One area of particular interest is email.

When most documents are written to a computer’s hard disk, each newly created document has its own directory entry (what the user sees as a listing in a folder). If a file has been deleted, but has not been overwritten by another document, the recovery process is a relatively trivial part of e-discovery or of data recovery. But when the data of interest is from deleted email, the discovery process is likely to differ significantly from that of data recovery. Individual emails are stored differently than individual files. Different types of email programs store data differently on the user’s hard disk and require different schemes for finding useful information. As a result, the deletion of emails and recovering of deleted emails differs not only from that for other types of documents, but also between different types of email programs.

In Truck/Tractor-trailer brakes and accident reconstruction,
equipment and machinery expert witness Robert R. Reed writes on ABS anti-lock brakes:

The importance of checking proper operation of the ABS system is that some fleets do not have in house maintenance that can diagnose and repair systems and over the road trucking companies tend to not take trucks/trailers out of service for repair for ABS light that stays on. Bulbs or fuses sometimes disappear from the dash warning light and system. Some veteran drivers remember the late 1970’s and don’t care for ABS because they think they have more skill in braking than ABS. This is not true as the new ABS systems have proven there reliability. Trucks/trailers with ABS problems will revert back to regular braking if any faults exist and the wheel or axle with a problem can skid. This can change or explain a stray skid mark that shows up at a scene. Other problems can develop with ABS with maintenance or lack thereof ABS wheel sensors, wiring, or exciter tone rings can be damaged and cause faults. Some fleets will avoid the costs as the truck still has regular brakes. Most normal stops by trucks/trailers do not involve ABS functions as ABS only releases the brake when skids/lock-up situations are detected but emergency/panic stops involving crash situations need the ABS functions to stop sooner or maneuver. If you encounter the unusual check for proper ABS functions.

In Truck/Tractor-trailer brakes and accident reconstruction,
equipment and machinery expert witness Robert R. Reed writes on ABS anti-lock brakes:

Compatibility is also an issue as older trucks pull newer trailers and newer trucks pull older trailers. This creates different issues for reconstruction. Load conditions, total weight, weather, environment, road and tire conditions, brake system maintenance, adjustment, capacity and capabilities must also be considered. These issues can produce conflicting data, cloud issues and render unfair judgments on the drivers/vehicles involved. Remember that since March 1999 trucks and buses with hydraulic brakes are ABS equipped and trucks with air brakes have ABS after March 1997 and air brake trailers have ABS after March 1, 1998. These are manufacture dates of the vehicles. Analyze all data carefully, identify systems properly to understand actions of the vehicles involved in the crash.