The danger of falling arises when the unsuspecting climber shifts his center of gravity, causing the ladder’s elevated rear leg, to impact the ground. This is likely to occur when the user lifts one foot while stepping from one level to the next or shifts his weight while working. When…
Seat belt and airbag expert witnesses at Technology Associates describe “whiplash”: Testing has shown that the maximum loading to a rear-ended car was amplified about two and a half times when it reached the heads of the occupants. The testing also revealed that this occurred about a fourth of a…
The ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law and the ABA Criminal Justice Section announces a new publication Criminal Mental Health and Disability Law, Evidence and Testimony: A Comprehensive Reference Manual for Lawyers, Judges and Criminal Justice Professionals. The new criminal mental health/disability law book is the most comprehensive…
Robert Rigg, associate professor and director of the Criminal Defense Program at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, says that “Jurors don’t like the insanity defense.” In fact, only a few cases in the state have succeeded with an insanity or diminished-capacity defense, according to Rigg, who has worked…
In Analysis and Testing In Accident Reconstruction, accident reconstruction expert witnesses at Technology Associates explain the nature of engineering analysis: Straightforward as the above reasoning is (see 7/16/09 blog entry), it nevertheless constitutes a valid (though simple) example of engineering analysis. Now let us consider what it would take to…
Ladders and scaffolds expert witnesses at Technology Associates write on stepladder instability: Three-leg contact can develop under a number of situations such as set-up on an uneven surface or when climbing, sliding, pivoting or “walking” a flexible ladder along the ground as the user’s work progresses. Dr. John Morse has…
Seat belt and airbag expert witnesses at Technology Associates describe “whiplash” injuries: Unfortunately, the effects of whiplash are often downplayed, and its sufferer thought to be malingering, on the grounds that injury isn’t visible. In addition, experiments have shown that the forces to the neck during whiplash are not much…
A North Carolina-based paratrooper charged in the death of another soldier he helped subdue outside a bar has agreed to a plea bargain and could testify against five other soldiers, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Sgt. Christopher Mignocchi, 22, of Hollywood, Fla., had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death…
A 28-year-old Mission Valley, CA, man who claims to operate a medical marijuana collective was ordered Monday to stand trial for allegedly selling and transporting the drug. Judge John Thompson ruled there was enough evidence to try Eugene Zhenya Davidovich on charges of selling marijuana, possessing marijuana for sale and…
In Analysis and Testing In Accident Reconstruction, accident reconstruction expert witnesses at Technology Associates explain the nature of engineering analysis: Persons with no training in engineering are generally unaware of the nature of engineering analysis, and so tend to assume that testing, as a means of determining the causation of…