Expert Witness Blog

In Environment, Highways to Benefit from ‘Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA) of 2010, ATA trucking experts write:

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) strongly supports the “Safe and Efficient Transportation ACT (SETA) of 2010, S. 3705, introduced Aug. 4 by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.). The legislation will allow states to authorize the operation of more efficient commercial trucks, resulting in safer highways, cleaner air and less costly freight transportation. Identical legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1799, currently has 54 co-sponsors.

The bill authorizes states to allow the operation of trucks on the Interstate Highway System with a gross weight of 97,000 pounds. Current law limits the weight of 5-axle trucks traveling on the Interstate System to 80,000 pounds. The legislation requires that trucks operating above 80,000 pounds must add a sixth axle to compensate for the extra weight. The extra axle adds additional braking capacity, preventing an increase in stopping distances, and prevents pavements from sustaining more damage.

Read more: www.truckline.com.

Rubber expert witnesses may opine on rubber consumer products, tires, and rubber piping. Here, experts at the Rubber Manufacturers Association comment on the EPA's proposed rule on scrap tires.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a rule that would significantly harm the existing infrastructure that manages scrap tires as well as reverse two decades of environmental cleanup success, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA).

After decades of EPA-sanctioned use as a supplemental industrial fuel, EPA is proposing now to declare whole scrap tires a solid waste. The new designation would require facilities using whole tire-derived fuel (TDF) to add costly new emission controls that would not be required to burn traditional, less efficient fuels. Instead of this option, many TDF users, likely will opt to stop using TDF in favor of more costly, less efficient and higher emitting traditional fossil fuels, including coal. This will likely result in a dramatic reduction of TDF use while driving tens of millions of scrap tires back to landfills, stockpiles and illegal dumping sites.

At the same time, EPA will still allow the use of processed scrap tires to be used as fuel only if most of the steel content is removed, which would add costs to TDF use for facilities such as cement kilns, and increase the amount of energy needed and air pollutants emitted to supply TDF to these facilities. Steel content in tires does not affect overall emissions when consumed as TDF. Instead, the steel is used as a raw material in the manufacture of cement.

Read more: rma.org.

In Fuel Tax Continues to Provide Greatest Public Benefits, trucking experts at the American Transportation Associations write:

It is time to fix our crumbling transportation infrastructure by raising the gas tax, The Washington Post said in a recent editorial.

“By any measure, driving in the United States is cheap,” The Post said. “Driving today is substantially cheaper, in real terms, than it was about a generation ago…Americans spend just $19 on gas taxes per 1,000 miles driven -- half of what they paid in 1975.” Highways are experiencing twice the usage, twice the wear and tear, for the same amount of money; it is a system which can not sustain itself and results in poorer roads for taxpayers. An expected freight boom over the next ten years will put an even greater strain on the nation’s vital transportation system.

According to a recent report compiled by IHS Global Insight and Martin Labbe Associates, U.S. freight tonnage will increase 25 percent by 2021, with the share moved by truck increasing to 71 percent. Our highways cannot accommodate the expected increase in freight volume without substantial improvements, which are not possible with current funding levels. The most efficient way to improve the health of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is to increase the federal fuel tax. The buying power of the HTF is greatly diminished and without replenishment, threatens our economic prosperity and competitiveness. Revenue from the fuel tax will help alleviate critical chokepoints in the supply chain, lower fuel consumption, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing the efficiency of freight transportation.

Read more: truckline.com.

U.S. federal investigators are hearing testimonies from BP and Transocean officials in a probe into the cause of the rig explosion that led to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hearings, jointly conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, started Monday and will continue through Friday in Houston.

Marine engineering expert Neil Cramond, BP's Gulf of Mexico marine authority official, testified that Transocean's Deepwater Horizon had dozens of maintenance issues in an audit conducted seven months before the rig blast. BP had recommended a five-day suspension of operations on the rig after the audit but later recommended that the rig be put back into service even though not all the issues had been addressed.

Read more: xinhuanet.com.

In Study Questions Use of Paid Medical Expert Witnesses in Malpractice Cases, Newswise.com writes:

Publication of the study, in the August 2010 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, arrives as a fierce debate over medical malpractice reform that began more than 20 years ago continues to rage in the U.S.. It follows closely on the heels of a survey of physicians, published in June in Archives of Internal Medicine, in which 91 percent of respondents said they believed that “physicians order more tests and procedures than needed to protect themselves from malpractice suits.”

On the opposite side of the issue, plantiffs’ attorneys and other advocates for patients who have been injured by medical malpractice have argued with equal force and considerable success against many measures that have been proposed, such as caps on damages awards, to rein in the costs of malpractice litigation and discourage the practice of “defensive medicine.”

Read more: newswise.com.

People who use Adderall when they don't need it can experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine, a medical expert told TMZ.Com. According to that report, "Lindsay Lohan's Adderall dependence -- the result of a medical misdiagnosis -- may have been the reason she went off the rails." The report adds "the UCLA rehab facility believe Lindsay was misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder."

Lohan's father Michael hopes his daughter will overcome a possible addiction to prescription medication. "This Adderall stuff has got to be stopped. Seven out of ten kids in college are on this stuff and it's no more than methamphetamine."

Read more: nationaledger.com.

In Study Questions Use of Paid Medical Expert Witnesses in Malpractice Cases, Newswise.com writes:

A study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that 31 radiologists who reviewed the CT scans used in a medical malpractice lawsuit did not agree with the conclusions reached by four paid medical expert witnesses in the case.

This suggests that the use of radiologists who are blinded to both the medical outcome and the litigation in such cases may be a more objective way of determining whether or not the standard of care has been met, said Richard C. Semelka, MD, lead author of the study and professor of radiology in the UNC School of Medicine.

Read more: newswise.com.

The criminal trial of the American pilots of the Legacy jet that collided with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon in 2006 moved forward this month when the judge decided he has no need to hear seven defense witnesses. Mato Grosso federal court judge Fábio Henrique Rodrigues de Moraes Fiorenzage ruled that the witnesses' testimony was dispensable because they were either passengers on the Legacy who lacked technical knowledge or aviation specialists who did not witness the episode, according to Joel Weiss, attorney for the Legacy's pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino.

Lepore and Paladino were at 37,000 feet when the Legacy and the 737 operating Gol Flight 1907 collided. Both aircraft were flying in accordance with ATC clearances. Four air traffic controllers are also on trial. The Legacy's transponder was turned off for close to an hour before the collision. The judge rejected the aviation expert witnesses put forth by the defense, instead asking the Brazilian Air Force to supply someone from among its personnel to explain the ATC system.

Read more: ainonline.com.

ITC Midwest personnel and environmental expert witnesses testified earlier this month before the Iowa Utilities Board in a case involving a proposed transmission line in Dubuque County. ITC Seven Dubuque County landowners testified to their objection of the 81-mile, 345-kilovolt line running through their properties during the hearing at the Delaware County Community Center in Manchester.
Concerns included land development, human and livestock health, and gas lines already on the properties. The next hearings, during which expert witnesses for the landowners will be cross-examined, are scheduled for Oct. 5-7.

Read more: thonline.com.

In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Surveys, marketing experts at Vovic Corporation offer these ideas on writing objective questions:

Remember the adage “Garbage in, Garbage out”. Poorly worded questions will lead to suspect results and erroneous conclusions. Respondents should not be able to determine where you stand on any topic, so use nonjudgmental wording and choose neutral terms. Don’t ask leading questions such as “What do you like about your service?” but instead ask “What, if anything, do you like…?”

Remove any ambiguity in your questions. Ask one item at a time, rather than using confusing questions like “How would you rate our price and service?” Make sure to avoid industry jargon. Write from the respondent’s perspective and not your perspective. Have others proofread your questions for clarity, and consider pre-testing your survey with a segment of your audience.

The best practices for writing scales have been thoroughly researched. Respondents prefer fully labeled scales; they have greater reliability and validity. Five- and 7-point scales have the greatest reliability and validity but 10- and 11-point scales are popular. Where possible use standard scales rather than writing your own. Numeric values alter the meaning of labels and should be avoided.

In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Surveys, marketing experts at Vovic Corporation write on surveying the right number of people:
Some might consider a “census approach” to surveying, attempting to gather feedback from 100% of the population. Others take a “sampling approach”. If you are thinking of taking a census approach with your survey, consider:
• The census approach works best for populations under 1,000 individuals
• It may require you to utilize incentives to boost response to the appropriate level
• Make sure you invite all respondents
• Use reminders and deadlines to ensure highest response rates among your population
A sampling approach may be more effective for your situation. Some of the benefits of a sampling approach are as follows:
• The sampling approach works best for populations over 1,000 individuals
• This approach avoids fatiguing respondents
• Segmentation allows you to obtain information on particular subgroups
If you are going to take the sampling approach, be mindful of the number of responses required to get a solid indication of how the target population overall would respond to your questions.
To ensure good sampling, make sure your selection of population is as random as possible. Send scheduled email reminders. Do not invite all potential respondents, thereby leaving names available for future surveys. For web surveys, make sure they are representative of the population for which you have email addresses; you may need to expand and test the representativeness and comprehensiveness of your house email lists.

Emission requirements expert Kevin Dukesherer, owner of Progressive Transportation Services and founding member of The Clean Truck Coalition, said in a July 8 Op-Ed in The Daily Breeze that "Those interested in truly helping truck drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach should advocate relatively quick and easy improvements to drayage operations at marine terminals, not an act of Congress."

Congressional Aides last week visited the Port of Los Angeles as part of a U.S. House of Representatives committee review of the Clean Trucks Program. The two-day tour, however, had little to do with their clean air achievements and instead focused on the thousands of independent owner operators hauling freight from the port, Dukesherer said.

The Clean Trucks Program has been extremely successful, reducing emissions from drayage trucks by 80 percent in just two years. Despite these results, the Teamsters union and their allies at the Port of Los Angeles continue to claim that independent owner operators can not sustain the environmental gains achieved under the program. The Teamsters have pushed for a change in federal transportation law that would give local ports the authority to regulate the trucking industry, with the goal of making it easier to organize the workforce.

Read more: truckline.com.

Trucking expert witnesses may opine on the trucking industry and trucking and transportation rules and regulations. The American Trucking Associations website reports that:

The Missouri State Highway Patrol recently teamed up with NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing team and Con-way Freight to kick off a statewide safety campaign against texting while driving, according to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The safety campaign’s logo will also be displayed on Con-way Freight’s No. 16 Ford Fusion race car driven by Colin Braun, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat said.

“Anybody can drive a vehicle if they’re focused on it 100 percent,” Braun said. “As a race car driver I don’t [text] while I’m racing, and I don’t do it in my personal car. I know I can’t do it safely, and I’ve got quick reflexes compared to a lot of people on the road.” Missouri became the 23rd state to adopt a ban on texting in August of 2009, when the state made it illegal for drivers under the age of 21 to text while driving, said the Missouri DOT website. However, the newly launched safety campaign advocates that all drivers - regardless of age - refrain from texting while driving.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) supports the efforts of the 30 states and the District of Columbia that have banned texting by automobile drivers and will continue to work with affiliated state trucking associations and stakeholder groups to encourage the remaining states to institute a ban. A comprehensive listing of state laws on texting and cell phone usage is available online from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Two police procedures expert witnesses with Force Science backgrounds are believed to have been influential in a jury’s recent decision to reject a murder conviction of a former transit officer accused of deliberately shooting an unarmed suspect in the back during a handcuffing scuffle.

The witnesses, Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute, and retired LAPD captain Greg Meyer, a certified Force Science Analyst, testified in detail how a combination of inadequate training and psychological stress phenomena most likely led to a tragic accident in which the officer mistakenly drew his sidearm instead of his X26 Taser while trying to restrain the struggling suspect. The prosecution had claimed the incident was one of intentional homicide by an out-of-control cop.

“This case,” Lewinski told Force Science News, “is a classic illustration of powerful forces beyond an officer’s conscious awareness that can shape a threatening encounter. These forces may not be readily evident even to unbiased witnesses, but in a matter of seconds they can change the lives of those involved forever.”

Read more: policeone.com.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports a trial court erred in removing plaintiffs’ medical malpractice expert witness in a trial on the basis that defense counsel’s representation of the doctor 10 years earlier created an irreconcilable conflict of interest, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled on July 16th.

Div. Three said prophylactic removal was unnecessary where the expert waived any conflict arising out of the previous representation, so long as that waiver was unequivocal.

Orange Superior Court Commissioner Janet C. Pesak disqualified board-certified plastic surgeon John M. Shamoun from testifying against physician Mark Knight in a suit over a liposuction he performed on Laura Montgomery. Montgomery sued Knight in 2007, alleging she was injured by the procedure, and her husband, Douglas, brought a claim for loss of consortium.

Electronics expert Michael Williams testified in federal hearings that emergency alarms on board the Deepwater Horizon were disabled weeks before it exploded, killing 11 workers and spewing more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is the most damning evidence yet of shoddy maintenance and compromised safety systems on board the oil rig.

Hearings conducted by a federal panel of investigators from the US Coast Guard and the department of the interior have already uncovered several incidents of apparent safety irregularities that leave both BP, the oil giant that was working the Macondo well, and Transocean, the owner of the oil rig that was operating under contract to BP, with big questions to answer.

Williams, a former Marine, managed to survive the explosion on 20 April by jumping from the burning rig. His evidence before the federal panel in Kenner, on the outskirts of New Orleans, suggested a litany of problems, from alarm systems that had been switched off to software that was so faulty the rig's computer systems – critical for the monitoring of key safety equipment – regularly crashed.

Read more: theguardian.com.

The House leadership pulled a bill off of the floor before a vote could be taken on legislation that would add windstorm coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The bill, H.R. 1264, introduced by Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., could still be taken up again at any time, but for the moment, insurance industry representatives were satisfied that the House did not pass the measure after legislators discussed it on July 22.

An insurance industry expert told NU Online News Service that it is believed the bill was pulled because Rep. Taylor did not have enough votes to secure passage. The industry representative said the bill is not likely to come up next week and could be on hold until September.

In a formal statement of administration policy, the White House said that the Multiple Peril Insurance Act—H.R. 1264—would expand the government’s role in providing windstorm coverage that is “already readily available in the private sector.”

Read more: property-casualty.com.

In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Surveys, marketing experts at Vovic Corporation write:

Surveys are perhaps the most proven method for gathering data about customers in a structured way. But a number of trends have made it harder for survey authors to be successful. First, phone surveys suffered declining responses, as people thought the Do Not Call list exempted them from surveys (it doesn’t) and as households gave up landlines for cell phones (which it is against U.S. law to call in an automated fashion). Now, web survey response rates are dropping due to the rise in spam and the increasing use of smart phones to check email. A successful survey is one that is designed to meet its original goal, provides accurate data that is representative of the target population, and that improves the satisfaction level of its respondents. This whitepaper distills the seven keys to ensuring the best possible outcome for the survey author.
1. Focus on a Goal
2. Survey the Right Number of People
3. Craft Your Invitation Carefully
4. Order Questions Logically
5. Write Objective Questions
6. Shorten the Survey
7. Close the Feedback Loop

Birthing centers expert witness Susan Trezona, CNM, offers this article on her website:
Maternal Obesity Increases Risks

Mothers are considered overweight if their body-mass index, or BMI — a height-weight ratio — is between 25 and 30, and obese if their BMI is 30 or higher.

Overweight or obese women are two to three times as likely as normal-weight women to give birth to babies with either one or more serious defects, including the neural tube malformation known as spina bifida, omphalocele -- in which intestines or other abdominal organs protrude through the navel -- and malformations in the anal opening or urethra in boys, according to a study published in the August 2007 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Also, overweight or obese women have higher rates of miscarriage, gestational diabetes and hypertension, stillbirths and delivery of small infants. Additionally, it’s more difficult to monitor a pregnancy in an overweight or obese mother and therefore, the costs are also greater, Dr. Katz says. He also notes that there is an increased risk for Cesarean births in women with obesity.

It’s unclear why the public is still ill-informed about the risks of overweight or obesity in pregnancy. But Dr. Katz is adamant about one thing: “Women who are obese in pregnancy don’t need to gain additional weight,” he says.

Dr. Katz says he thinks part of the lack of awareness may stem from the long-time emphasis on women gaining enough weight during pregnancy. “But now, we’ve gone over the line,” he says. “The pendulum has swung in the other direction.”

Dr. Katz encourages women considering pregnancy to consult with their physician about the risks involved in conceiving while overweight. He recommends losing weight, adopting a more nutritious diet, and taking a daily multivitamin containing at least 1 milligram of folic acid. He also advises obese women planning to get pregnant to stabilize their weight loss program at least one month or one menstrual cycle before conception.

Licensed midwives expert witness Susan Trezona, CNM, offers this article on her website:
Maternal Obesity Increases Risks

By now, most of us are aware of the obesity epidemic in America. Obesity among both genders and all age groups is growing. In the early 1960s, 13% of Americans were classified as obese. By 2000, the number had skyrocketed to more than 30%. Today, almost 67 million Americans — or two-thirds of the population — are considered overweight while one in three is obese.

While being significantly overweight or obese presents numerous health risks for all ages, it poses special problems for pregnant women. Being overweight or obese at the time of conception can lead to a high-risk pregnancy for the mother and serious complications — from stillbirth to multiple birth defects — for the baby, according to Dr. Vern Katz, a perinatologist at the Center for Genetics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Women’s Care.

The risk factors of being obese and pregnant, says Dr. Katz, are actually greater than those of smoking while pregnant, conceiving at an advanced age or being underweight. Yet, although half of all women of childbearing age are overweight or obese, the public is still uninformed about the problems the condition can cause to both mothers and their babies.