In Using Marketing, Business & Competitive Research to Win Cases, Don E. Smith, marketing expert witness and President of American Consulting Group, Inc. explains that marketing research is a powerful tool that helps lawyers win cases.
Areas that benefit from marketing research:
Advertising effectiveness
In Mediation as a Discovery Tool, insurance expert witness Guy O. Kornblum describes the benefits of going to mediation:
So, mediation can be very productive as a discovery tool and opportunity to learn more about your client’s case, and what the other side has to say IF the parties come in good faith, with a view towards getting the important facts on the table. But if one side is attending simply to demonstrate that it is playing hardball and merely wants the other side to capitulate for reasons that are not meritorious, then a mediation is not worth the time or money.
One issue that you face is how much you tell the other side. For example, what if you have significant negative information on the other party, or impeachment potential; do you share that? Maybe not. Maybe it has to be saved to avoid the adverse party being able to defuse this potential damaging evidence. Or, it might be that you can disclose the essence of this information in a private letter to the mediator, and can go over its substance and level of importance in your case in a private caucus. That is a judgment call that you as counsel need to make. If you follow this approach and hold it back or disclose it only to the mediator, the mediator might use it if he or she believes it may result in closure. Again, that is something you and the mediator need to discuss to put together a strategy.
Flooring expert witness Kenneth D. Newson describes the forensic science of floor covering and how investigation begins with discovery. The steps include:
1. Site visit (no geographical limitation)
2. Videography
Palm Beach Florida and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are seeking $17 million for a beach project to protect properties vulnerable to storm damage. The town says the beach was damaged by the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 but it is being challenged by petitioners seeking to block the town’s plans to rebuild the Reach 8 shoreline south of Phipps Ocean Park.
Dr. Robert Dean, retired University of Florida professor of civil and coastal engineering, says a full reconstruction is necessary at the Reach 8 shoreline. Dean, author of “Beach Nourishment: Theory and Practice,” warns that if the plan is not carried out, the beach is going to continue to erode and there won’t be any nesting sea turtles, property protection or recreation. Dean challenged the expertise of two geology expert witnesses expected to testify for the petitioners. Dr. Orrin Pilkey, a geologist at Duke University, and Dr. Robert Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, will testify that it is impossible to predict how renourished beaches will perform.
Dr. Tartaglia of the Stork Climax Research Services testified as a metallurgy expert witness for the defense in a wrongful death suit involving materials testing. The plaintiff alleged that steel making byproduct and manufacturing slag fell from a passing truck and was the cause of death of his client killed in a car accident. The expert for the plaintiff performed an energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) elemental analysis on debris found in the car and asserted that the debris was from the truck.
Dr. Tartaglia consulted as an expert witness for the defense in the analysis of the disputed material. He advised that the EDS analysis was insufficient and that a molecular analysis should have been performed with an instrument such as a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer. The case was settled satisfactorily for the defense.
The wife of Morton Scheinbaum has sued Las Vegas Mountain View Hospital over the death of her ex-husband. Linda Scheinbaum claims nearly an hour had passed from the time her husband arrived at Mountain View Hospital while a nurse insisted on getting his Social Security number, emergency contact and insurance information.The Scheinbaums were told to take a seat and wait – even though a delay of just minutes can make the difference between life and death during a heart attack.
Dr. John MacGregor, a cardiology expert witness from San Francisco General Hospital, would say later that Scheinbaum should have been rushed immediately into the emergency room for treatment. And emergency room bystanders would testify to their shock that the hospital staff failed to take his condition seriously.
DuPage County, IL, Judge Dorothy French ordered the Indian Prairie School District’s to hand over records they’re hoping will show hypocrisy in the school district’s objection to reimbursements the Brach and Brodie trusts are seeking over a failed land deal. The records include contracts, bills, invoices and payments for its attorneys and finance expert witnesses as well as documents regarding its legislative efforts to secure quick-take power. The Sun-Times News reports:
The district also is contesting the validity of all fees sought for reimbursement because attorneys and expert witnesses secured by the trusts used “block billing” rather than a “task-based billing” approach that would allow their charges to be scrutinized for “reasonableness.”
Oral argument Tuesday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals centered on a pharmacology expert witness who contends the acne drug Accutane causes inflammatory bowel disease. DailyReportOnline.com writes:
Three trials over an alleged link between the acne drug Accutane and serious gastrointestinal problems have resulted in verdicts of more than $20 million in New Jersey and Florida state courts. Hundreds of other such cases have been filed in New Jersey, and several of those are scheduled for trial this fall. But at oral argument Tuesday at the federal appeals court in Atlanta, it looked like plaintiffs proceeding in federal court may have a much harder time….
Arguing for the drug company defendants, Paul W. Schmidt of Covington & Burling in Washington argued that a key flaw in the expert’s approach was that he homed in on select evidence, making “leaps of faith based on these data points.”
In Industry Standards, Technology Associates, the forensic engineering expert witness company discusses cases where there may be no significant amount of “good” custom and practice within an industry.
…where there is no good custom and practice within the industry, the need for dispassionate engineering judgment is even greater. Further, the engineer should be familiar with relevant techniques outside of the industry in question, so as to determine whether such techniques can be used to improve custom and practice within the subject industry. As a case in point, consider the application of a “dead-man” control to lawnmowers, for the purpose of automatically stopping the rotating blade when the operator takes his hands off the push-bar, for clearing a clump of grass which has become lodged in the structure of the lawnmower at a point dangerously near the blade. The dead-man concept, although long used in other types of machinery, has only recently received substantial (and badly needed) acceptance in lawnmowers.
In summary, in contrast to formal standards as defined above, an industry standard based on custom and practice may be relatively indefinite, requiring engineering analysis, judgment and explanation (especially in the area of human factors) in order to be used as a valid criterion for safe design and practice.
Ray Everett-Church has been appointed Director of Privacy and Industry Relations at Responsys, a leading global provider of on-demand email and marketing automation solutions. Mr. Everett-Church, an internationally recognized author and expert witness on privacy and technology policy issues, has spent nine years at the forefront of industry efforts to increase trust and relevance in email and interactive marketing. The computer security expert is co-author of “Internet Privacy for Dummies” and “Fighting Spam for Dummies.” He serves as an expert witness on privacy and security matters and is a frequent commentator on privacy and technology policy issues.
Dan Springer, Chief Executive Officer of Responsys, has this to say on computer security: “The adoption and use of new trust and privacy enhancing technologies is one of the biggest issues facing the marketing industry today.”
