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A Los Angeles jury reached a decision that AEG Live was not responsible for Michael Jackson’s death. Jackson’s family was seeking $1.5B in economic damages during the five month lawsuit. AEG Live’s finance expert witness estimated that Michael Jackson would have earned $21M if he had completed a worldwide tour and a Las Vegas show. AEG’s lead attorney Marvin S. Putman is a partner in O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s Century City office and a member of the Business Trial and Litigation Practice. He described Michael Jackson as making “some bad choices.” “It was Mr. Jackson, not AEG Live, that chose Conrad Murray.”

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Medical expert witness Dr. Vincent Marks testified for the defense in the New Hampshire murder trial against Jodi LaClaire. LaClaire is accused of injecting Nita Lowery with insulin resulting in a coma. Lowrey was not diabetic and died after nine days in a coma. Dr. Marks testified that he has no idea what killed Nita Lowery in 2009 and believes that no one else knows. He describes the lack of medical information compiled before her death to be “appalling.”

Dr. Marks is a professor of biochemistry and has spent much of his career researching hypoglycemia. An expert in diabetes and the effects of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, he co-authored Insulin Murders with Caroline Richmond.

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Gangs expert witnesses may advise regarding gang activity, gang crimes, and gang education. Author and gangs expert witness Jesse De La Cruz testified in the Modesto, CA, murder trial of three young men charged in the death of Chaz Bettencourt. De La Cruz opined that the shooting was not associated with gang activity while the prosecution says the defendants acted as members of the Norteño street gang.

De La Cruz’s book Detoured chronicles his life of gangs, substance abuse, and crime and goes on to detail his release from prison and journey to receive a Masters of Social Work. He now offers attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and juries insight into the secretive world of gangs.

Read more: http://jsdconsultations.com/

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In More effective use of experts in slip-and-fall cases – The right expert will help you to better prepare the case and win it at trial, attorney David Reinard writes on when to retain your experts:

• How obvious is liability? If you know you have them dead to rights, you can wait as close to trial as your personality allows.

• How big of a case is it? If you have a big damages case, you can’t afford to wait and miss something because you didn’t hire an expert at the beginning. And if you have a big damages case, you need to be ready to spend the money to do it right.

Continue reading

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Oil and gas expert witnesses may consult on oil and gas pumps, fracking, petrochemical manufacturing, pipelines, crude oil, and the petroleum industry, as well as related topics. On September 24, 2013, the EPA published final amendments to sections of its 2012 New Source Performance Standard regarding storage vessels used in the production, processing, transmission, and storage of oil and natural gas. On EnergyLegalBlog.com, attorneys at Bracewell & Giuliani write “These amendments specifically modify the regulations applicable to storage tanks with a potential to emit six or more tons per year of volatile organic compounds.”

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Property insurance expert witnesses may consult on home insurance, property claims, fire insurance, flood insurance, and earthquake insurance. In the news, flood insurance rates are scheduled to go up sharply on October 1, 2013 as part of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. BW 2012 will require the NFIP to raise rates to reflect true flood risk, make the program more financially stable, and change how the Flood Insurance Rate Map updates impact policyholders.

FEMA offers Q&A re: BW 12 at http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/31873?id=7266

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Civil engineering expert witnesses may consult on bridges, sewers, flood control, and earthwork. This week the Leo Frigo Bridge in Wisconsin was closed indefinitely due to a section that is sagging by an estimated two feet. The bridge was built in 1980 and last inspected in August 2012. The Federal Highway Administration has sent a team to aid in the investigation.

greenbaygazette.com offers a link to a DataMine: Search for ‘structurally deficient’ bridges in the state: Use this tool to look up the bridges in your community that have been identified as “structurally deficient,” meaning that the deck, substructure and/or superstructure requires attention for issues such as potholes or rusting trusses.

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Legal nurse consultant expert witnesses may testify on general nursing, surgical nursing, palliative care, and medical record review, as well as related issues. In “Nurse experts: Are YOU prepared for cross-examination?” by Juris Educational Resource Knowledge guest blogger Lori Combs RN, LNC, writes that “Extensive preparation is needed to ensure the expert is well versed with the case and is prepared for the dreaded cross-examination.”

According to Jim McElhaney (2011), a Litigation Columnist at the ABA Journal, there are eight ways to cross-examine a witness, both expert and lay[1]. First stated is that opposing counsel (OC) is going to try and make the witness their witness. They will try to get them to speak on their clients behalf instead of going at them head on in a defense attack. This occurs when the OC switches the questioning around so that you, as the LNC witness, will be talking about their client in a manner that is more beneficial to their issues.

More: http://www.thejerklnc.com/blog/?p=1673

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Adoptions expert witnesses may assist with disputes involving adoptive parents, child support obligations, custody, and more. In a high profile adoption case, 4-year-old Veronica was returned to her adoptive parents Matt and Melanie Capobianco after living with her biological father for 18 months. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that although Dusten Brown invoked the Indian Child Welfare Act to gain custody of Veronica, he had to return her to her adoptive parents.

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Business expert witnesses will testify in Samantha Perelman’s lawsuit against her uncle James Cohen over the Hudson News business legacy. Perelman, daughter of billionaire Revlon chairman Ronald Perelman, claims that Cohen used undue influence to transfer sizable portions of the Hudson News business from his father, Robert Cohen, to himself and changed his will so that Perelman was entitled to little inheritance.

Hudson News began as a newspaper and magazine wholesale business and grew to a retail chain of newsstands in airports and train stations.