In the recent case of Freed v. Geisinger Medical Center, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a nurse was qualified to testify as a medical malpractice expert witness. The ruling overturned a prior decision by the Court of Common Pleas, which had disallowed the testimony, stating that a nurse is…
In The Attorney-Expert Relationship: Unraveling the Complexity, Peter T. Tomaras writes on his experience as a franchising expert witness: Timing and Duration Too frequently, attorneys seek expert consultation after substantially completing discovery–almost as an afterthought, as though attorney or client decide that a credible objective opinion might add weight to…
In Five Factors that Suggest a Case is Ripe for Mediation, bad faith expert witness Guy O. Kornblum writes: Anyone who has been involved in the dispute-resolution mechanism knows it can be a laborious and often mysterious process. Somewhat over simplified, here is a good way to remove some of…
In Negotiating and Settling Insurance Bad Faith Cases , insurance expert witness Guy O. Kornblum of GK Consultants, LLC, writes: The potential exposure to punitive or exemplary damages is the greatest danger to an insurer defending an extra-contractual claim. For example, courts have allowed the recovery of punitive damages when…
In Agricultural and Grounds Maintenance Equipment, agricultural engineering expert witness Richard L. Parish, PhD, PE, writes on standards: For grounds maintenance equipment, the ANSI B71 series is of primary interest. The most important standards in this series are ANSI B71.1, dealing with consumer turf care equipment, and ANSI B71.4, dealing…
A handwriting expert told Manhattan Supreme Court jurors on Tuesday that Brooke Astor “very probably” penned her signature on a will update – one prosecutors charge was forged. “I believe this is an authentic signature,” Alan Robillard, a former FBI documents examiner expert, told the jury weighing evidence against Astor’s…
In The Attorney-Expert Relationship: Unraveling the Complexity, Peter T. Tomaras writes on his experience as a premises liability expert witness: In my view, attorneys should retain experts not merely to ratify their arguments, but for all the experience based information we can contribute. For instance, experts can support discovery by…
In Negotiating and Settling Insurance Bad Faith Cases , insurance expert witness Guy O. Kornblum of GK Consultants, LLC, writes: I’ve been handling bad faith insurance cases for almost my entire career. Initially the majority of cases encompassed the “duty to settle-excess liability cases” wherein the insurer became responsible for…
Two local aviation companies who lost a lawsuit claiming they sold a lemon airplane are taking their former attorney to court. Tim McCandless Inc. and Swieter Aircraft Services allege that attorney Gene Yagla smelled of alcohol during their trial in 2006. Also named in the lawsuit is Yagla’s firm, Riley,…
In Agricultural and Grounds Maintenance Equipment, agricultural engineering expert witness Richard L. Parish, PhD, PE, writes on industry consensus standards: The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) is the primary standards organization for farm and grounds maintenance equipment, although The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) issues most tractor…