Expert Witness Blog

In 14 Rules For Working With An Expert Economist, expert witness Dr. Jerome M. Staller offers “rules” to follow that will help your economics expert witness do the best job he or she can for you and your client.

Engage in specific discovery for each damages claim. Claims for economic damages can involve several elements: lost income, lost household services, lost fringe benefits, different elements of survival and wrongful death claims. Your economist requires specific data relevant to each of these elements. Help your economist by discovering facts relevant to each element of damages.

Think through the logic of each separate aspect of the claim. What aspects of the plaintiff’s particular situation may affect the economic damages argument? Is the industry the plaintiff works in affected by any special economic factors that may not be obvious? Was a self-employed plaintiff’s income the result of the disabled plaintiff’s labor, or was it return on investment? Would a preexisting health condition have limited the plaintiff’s ability to earn income, regardless of the injury at issue? Is it reasonable to argue that a disabled construction worker could become a computer specialist?

In Common Construction Defects, expert witness Pete Fowler describes how substandard construction during Southern California’s 1980s building boom has created a construction defect litigation “industry.” As a construction expert witness, Fowler commonly sees problems with diaphragms and shear walls. He writes:

Failure to follow the nailing requirements for shear walls and diaphragms is a common defect. Many builders temporarily set the plywood in place with a few hand-driven nails, then return later to finish the nailing with a gun. Unfortunately, we sometimes find that the second step in the process has been forgotten and the finish materials are installed over inadequately attached plywood. Another typical mistake is the substitution of box nails or sinkers for the specified common nails, or use of a smaller size nail.

For more see

http://www.petefowler.com/index.html

Aviation expert witness Captain “J” Joseph is a full time airline pilot and Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. When hiring an aviation expert witness, Joseph recommends working with one who will pull together FAA and NTSB factual reports, interviews conducted with personnel (including witnesses and flight crews), technical support personnel interviews, and industry technical publications. His Aviation Accident Analysis Text ™ includes:

HISTORY OF FLIGHT Provides a chronological breakdown of the mishap. All phases of the flight, from pre-flight through the actual mishap, are defined.

AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS Explores the technical aspects of aircraft systems and components through all pertinent phases of the flight. A detailed examination and correlation is made between system failures and how they relate to the mishap.

Computers expert witness Scott Greene of Great Scott Enterprises, Inc., writes that it is important to understand that computer forensics is not just “looking around in a computer.”

There are very specific protocols for recovering, preserving and analyzing the data as evidence. Certain data may need to be recovered due to the fact that it was purposely destroyed. In addition, there are data files that are created during normal operation of the operating system or of an application program that individuals usually don’t realize exist. These intricacies require an expert. Proper handling techniques preserves data from websites, computer files, fax machines, emails, etc.

Did you know that:

In 14 Rules For Working With An Expert Economist, expert witness Dr. Jerome M. Staller offers “rules” to follow that will help your economics expert witness do the best job he or she can for you and your client.

Retain experts early enough to assist with discovery. This should be a no-brainer, yet I still get calls asking if I can testify in a case that is being tried next week. To produce a credible, defensible and thorough damages argument, I need specific and detailed data, much of which can only be obtained through discovery. This takes time.

Work to understand relevant technical issues. The best attorneys I have worked with share one significant trait: they have an avid curiosity about the details of all phases of each case — liability, damages and everything else, and work to understand all relevant technical aspects of a claim.

Excerpted from The Center for Forensic Economic Studies http://www.cfes.com/

Securities expert witness Chris McConnell, AIFA®, writes on a 2007 court decision requiring some stock brokers to register and comply with the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

Prior to this decision (FPA v. SEC) what was the brokers’ responsibility to customers’ accounts? Over 1 million customers may find new customer account agreements in the mail. Customers should read and understand potential liability-shifting and the gravity of the decision on previous, current and future investment advice and recommendations. Some customers especially trustees, unwittingly relinquish rights even before investments occur; fiduciary duty appllies before and during review and monitoring of the account agreement with the broker dealer or investment adviser and any changes thereto. Notably, stock brokers (Series 7 licensees, registered representatives, supervised by broker dealers) are required to adhere to FINRA (formerly NASD) rule 2310 regarding Suitability and the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) rule 405 regarding “Know (and update) your Customer” as they relate to securities recommendations in contrast to the customer’s cash flow needs, time horizon, age, tax bracket, tolerance for risk (fluctuation to principal), income (amounts and sources), net worth (liquid and total) and other factors.

Excerpted from http://www.fiduciaryexpert.com/page2.html

Computers expert witness Scott Greene of Great Scott Enterprises, Inc., writes that it is important to understand that computer forensics is not just “looking around in a computer.”

There are very specific protocols for recovering, preserving and analyzing the data as evidence. Certain data may need to be recovered due to the fact that it was purposely destroyed. In addition, there are data files that are created during normal operation of the operating system or of an application program that individuals usually don’t realize exist. These intricacies require an expert. Proper handling techniques preserves data from websites, computer files, fax machines, emails, etc.

Did you know that computer forensic analysis can reveal: