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Railroad expert witnesses may give opinions regarding railroad accident investigation, train wrecks, railroad safety, and railroad operating practices. Canadian National Railway Co. rail cars carrying propane and oil derailed Saturday near Edmonton while on their way from Vancouver. The Canadian Department of Transportation has issued new regulations this week which on the importing or transporting of crude oil.

The Canadian DOT offers information on rail investigations,including the 9/11/13 Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, accident on their website: http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/enquetes-investigations/rail/index.aspforcing the evacuation of a small town.

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Accident reconstruction expert witnesses may advise regarding collision analysis, crash worthiness, traffic accident reconstruction, and injury reconstruction issues. Middlesex County, NJ, authorities are investigating a fatal automobile accident that has been classified as a suicide-homicide. A 15 year old driver crossed over into oncoming traffic and killed two passengers in a second car. An eye witness said the driver was speeding and authorities report a lack of skid marks which indicate he did not try to stop.

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False Claims ACT expert witness Dr. Ronald H. Clark H testified in the Davenport, IA, legal malpractice case against attorney Michael Walker and his law firm Hopkins & Huebner, P.C. Walker is accused of committing malpractice in the False Claims Act case filed by former firefighter Timothy Schultheis. Dr. Clark accused the attorney of not filing motions to dismiss and heading into mediation without knowing the facts of the case. The city of Clinton paid Schultheis and the Department of Justice $4.5M in 2010. Walker is now accused of settling the 2010 lawsuit too quickly and for too much.

Dr. Clark has litigated FCA/Qui Tam cases as an assistant US attorney, a trial attorney and senior trial counsel at the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, and for 14 years as a defense counsel.

Text of 31 USC § 3729 – False claims:

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Child psychology expert witness Dr. Bruce D. Perry spoke October 7, 2013, at the annual conference of the Stanislaus County (CA) Family and Domestic Violence Council. Dr. Perry is the Senior Fellow of The Child Trauma Academy in Houston and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University in Chicago. He spoke on the psychological effects of violence on children and said counselors who work with abused children need to understand that violence changes how the brain develops and functions.

Dr. Perry has served as a consultant and/or expert witness on the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco siege, the YFZ Ranch custody cases, and the Columbine High School massacre.

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In Is Self-Promotion “Bragging? Rosalie Hamilton, the leading authority on expert witness marketing and founder of Expert Communications,writes:

Does the thought of reciting your achievements and credentials make you cringe?

You’re not alone. Many experts are hesitant to ‘promote’ themselves. I want to share with you an email exchange I had with one of our readers on this subject.

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General surgery expert witness Dr. James Stone testified for the defense in the Morton County, IA, case against Colten Towry. Towry was found not guilty of manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Derek Oshkeshequoam. Dr. Stone is a general surgeon at the CRHC Surgery Center, Clarinda, IA, who specializes in critical care medicine and surgery. He testified that Oshkeshequoam’s head injuries were not the result of one or two punches but more likely from the injury he sustained when his head hit the concrete ground and then not being taken to the hospital until the next day. The jury did find the defendant guilty of aggravated assault.

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Civil engineering expert witness and UC Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea testified October 1, 2013, that British Petroleum had not developed technology to handle a deep water blowout at the time of the Macondo massive oil spill. Dr. Bea described their policy as a “think about it when it happens plan.” Company executive James Dupree admitted that BP engineers didn’t have the equipment they needed to attack the Macondo well. New Orleans district judge Carl Barbier is considering if BP’s actions reached the level of “gross negligence.”

Expert witness Professor Bea has over 48 years of experience in engineering and management of design, construction, maintenance, operation, and decommissioning marine systems including offshore platforms, pipelines, and floating facilities.

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Internet expert witnesses may provide reports regarding electronic mail, online chat, social media, and internet marketing. This week the FBI shut down the internet marketplace Silk Road and arrested owner Ross William Ulbricht. Ulbricht is charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy and money laundering. FBI agent Christopher Tarbell said the site was used by “several thousand drug dealers” to sell “hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs.”

Charges include offering tutorials on contact lists for black market connections and counterfeiters, hacking ATM machines, and guns and hit men for sale. An FBI pilot program targeting internet crime was recently launched by the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the state of Utah. The IC3 reports that in 2012 alone, victims reported more than $500 million in losses due to crimes like fraudulent auto sales, intimidation/extortion scams, online dating fraud, scareware and ransomware, auction fraud, charity fraud, and computer intrusions.

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Bus accident expert witnesses may consult regarding transportation accidents, bus accidents, motor carriers, and bus safety. In the news, National Transportation Safety Board investigators were not sent to the eastern Tennessee crash scene of a church bus with an passenger vehicle and tractor-trailer due to the federal government shutdown. The Tennessee Highway Patrol says a front tire on the bus malfunctioned caused the bus to cross the highway. Fatalities included six bus passengers, the truck driver and one of the people in the SUV.

The NTSB usually begins an investigation of a major accident with their “Go Team” which is comprised of three or four to more than a dozen specialists from the Board’s headquarters staff in Washington, D.C. The specialists at a highway crash include a truck or bus mechanical expert and a highway engineer.