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A human resources expert witness’s presentation helped convince a Berkshire County, MA, jury to award $2 million to a former Wal-Mart pharmacist. Plaintiff Cynthia Haddad claimed she was paid less than male pharmacists and was fired in retaliation for complaining.

Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly reports that after more than 10 years at the Pittsfield Wal-Mart, Haddad complained that the retail giant laid her off after she asked to be paid the same as her male counterparts. The company paid her a bonus and then fired her two weeks later. Wal-Mart said the pharmacist was laid off because she left the pharmacy unattended during a period in which an authorized prescription was written by a technician. The jury also heard from North Andover attorney Julie A. Moore, an employment expert witness.

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When A. Bernard Ackerman, MD, a New York dermatopathology expert witness, is hired, he refuses to know which side the lawyer represents in the case. Ackerman’s goal is to keep his presentation of the facts and opinion objective. PointofLaw.com writes:

“I want to let the facts speak for themselves,” said Dr. Ackerman, who has testified equally for the defense and the plaintiff in medical liability cases and in other cases where medical expertise is needed, such as criminal cases. Sticking to the facts, he says, prevents a cross-examining lawyer from tripping him up about his opinion being consistent…. States in recent years have ratcheted up efforts to rein in false medical expert witnesses. They have adopted legislation requiring experts to be qualified or have stepped up state medical board oversight over who testifies and what they say.

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Brain Meehan, Director of DNA Security Inc., is often called upon as an expert witness . Unfortunately, the DNA expert witness lost some credibility when his testimony was criticized in Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong’s disbarment hearing. As reported in The News & Observer:

Lawyers on both sides and the panel chairman criticized his testimony during the hearing. From the moment Meehan stepped down through the end of the hearing, Williamson derided the scientist’s testimony, referring to him as “Mr. Obfuscation” and calling the scientist an “erratic witness at best.” Even Nifong’s attorney stated that “I wouldn’t make much out of what Dr. Meehan said.” Meehan can expect those comments to come up when he’s cross-examined in any future cases.

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In Oliveira v. Bridgestone, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41407, the Northern District of Georgia court ruled to exclude the testimony of the plaintiffs’ liability expert witness, Jon M. Crate. The plaintiffs allege that the right rear tire of their vehicle suffered a blowout due to a defect in the tire and caused an accident resulting in serious injury. They charge Bridgestone with (1) strict liability, (2) negligence, (3) misrepresentation, and (4) breach of warranty. Expert witness Crate testified on the cause of the tire blowout and the resultant vehicle rollover. The blowout, according to Crate, was caused by tread separation due to a defect in the tire. However, Bridgestone argued that the plaintiffs’ expert witness had a general background in polymer chemistry, materials failure, and metallurgy, but was not qualified to render expert witness testimony about tire failure and tread separation since he has no special education or experience in that particular field.

The court upheld the defendants’ motion to exclude the testimony of Jon M. Crate.

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A career as an expert witness can be monetarily rewarding but it is not for everyone states Rosalie Hamilton of Expert Communications, a business development firm for expert witnesses. Hamilton wants those who are considering becoming an expert witness as a second career to realize that “litigation is a high-stress production…Getting grilled in deposition, and then cross-examined in court before a judge and jury, can redefine stress!” As reported in eMediaWire:

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, an expert witness is a person who through education or experience has developed skill or knowledge in a particular subject, so that he or she may form an opinion that will assist the fact-finder. Fortunately, most of the work of an expert consultant is prior to or exclusive of courtroom testimony. Experts are used to investigate, evaluate, educate, or render an opinion, in written and/or oral format — activities that assist attorneys, insurers, judges, and juries to determine the facts in a claim, lawsuit, or other dispute. And some expert consultants confine themselves to activities other than testimony, such as reviewing potential medical malpractice cases to determine whether the case should be litigated.

Hamilton gives this advice, “Do your research, learn what it’s really like (in real life, not television), and then decide if it’s right for you.”

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Leuren Moret, independent scientist and international expert on radiation and public health issues, will address the Vancouver 9/11 Truth Conference on June 22-24, 2007. Moret, expert witness at the 2004 Tokyo International Tribunal for War Crimes in Afghanistan, will speak on the public health risk posed by the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons by the U.S. military forces in Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Environmental expert witness Moret reported elevated radiation readings downwind from the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. Two days after 9/11, the EPA confirmed that the crash site rubble was radioactive and that it was probably depleted uranium (DU) contaminating the Pentagon crash site rubble, as reported in the Online Journal.

The demonstrated public health effects of depleted uranium (DU) weapons include: diabetes; cancer; birth defects; chronic diseases caused by neurological and neuromuscular radiation damage; mitochondrial diseases (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s; heart and brain disorders); global DNA damage in men’s sperm; infertility in women; learning disabilities such as autism, and dyslexia; mental illness; infant mortality and low birth weights; Increase in death rates and decrease in birth rates.

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In a high profile property tax case, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board ruled in favor of West Tisbury, MA assessors. The Tax Board found that William W. Graham was not owed the $300,000 tax relief he sought. The ruling depended in large part on the report of the assessors’ real estate appraisal expert witness while the board dismissed testimony from Mr. Graham’s expert witness saying that he lacked experience necessary in the case.

The board ordered West Tisbury assessors to reimburse Mr. Graham a total of approximately $5,000 as reported in the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette.

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Edith Delgado has pleaded not guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. An eye witness and an expert witness for the defense testified Friday that Delgado was traveling just 70 miles per hour last July when she struck an SUV on U.S. Highway 101 resulting in the deaths of three people. The prosecution’s claims that Delgado, 19, was driving between 80 and 90 mph when she sideswiped a Ford Explorer. The accident took the lives of Tonga’s Prince Tu’ipelehake, 54, Princess Kaimana Tu’ipelehake, 45, and the driver of the Explorer, Vinisia Hefa.

Chris Kauderer, traffic-accident reconstruction expert witness, used accident simulation software to show that Delgado was traveling at 70 mph. Eyewitnesses claimed that Delgado was driving closer to 80 mph and seemed to be racing a black Cadillac Escalade.

Expert witness Kauderer contradicted the testimony of John Daly, an accident-reconstruction expert witness for the prosecution who testified earlier in the week that it was impossible to tell how fast the Mustang was traveling, reports InsideBayArea.com.

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A Jones County, MS, jury decided against a couple’s claim that dioxins from the DuPont Co.’s plant on the Gulf Coast were responsible for the death of their daughter. Kerman and Naomi Ladner of DeLisle filed a lawsuit claiming that their daughter’s liver cancer and heart problems were caused by dioxins released from DuPont’s plant. The DeLisle facility is the second-largest titanium dioxide maker in the country.

DuPont called several environmental expert witnesses to rebut claims made by the plaintiffs. Expert witness testimony led the Jones County jury to find that DuPont “negligently released dioxins and arsenic from the DeLisle facility” but did not link the release to the death of the Ladners’ daughter reports The Laurel Leader-Call.

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Worcester, MA police officer Heriberto Arroyo was convicted June 7th in U.S. District Court on two conspiracy drug charges. Arroyo was found guilty of conspiracy to possess GBL and GHB and conspiracy to possess Ecstasy and cocaine. GHB is widely believed to be used primarily for drugging women for purposes of sexual assault. Each conviction carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. Prosecutors called three expert witnesses on GBL and GHB, which weightlifters and party-goers use. No law enforcement expert witnesses were called.

The jury found Patrolman Arroyo not guilty of conspiracy to possess GHB and GBL with intent to distribute, which carries a maximum 20 year sentence reports Telegram.com.