Property insurance expert witnesses may write reports and consult on insurance claims, insurance carriers, the insurance industry, and affiliated matters. On its website, The Insurance Information Institute offers informative articles including Personal Lines P-C Insurance Markets: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities for 2012 & Beyond written by insurance expert and economist Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU.
The I.I.I. has provided definitive insurance information for over 50 years. See: iii.org.
Medical insurance expert witnesses may opine on health insurance claims, medical insurance deductibles, and related topics. In Understanding Co-Payments, Deductibles and Co-Insurance Scott Cornelius, board member of the Independent Agents of Oklahoma City, writes:
But health insurance companies take their position as insurers very seriously and they have a method for dealing with the risk of claims. First, they underwrite applications so that they fully understand the risks presented by each individual applicant (and for group insurance they look at the experience of similar groups). Next they review the applicant’s choice of policy so they can decide what rates they need to charge based on the risks that are self-insured through flexible policy options such as deductibles, co-insurance and limits. Finally, they structure each policy with a set of pre-determined prices (also called co-payments) for different medical treatment and the service of certain providers.
All these different facets of a health insurance policy can be very confusing, but understanding the differences between co-payments, deductibles and co-insurance is probably the most difficult.
Media piracy experts may consult on online infringement, international IP piracy, pirated goods, and correlated matters. In an effort to strengthen copyright enforcement online, the U.S. House of Representatives is now debating H.R.3261, The Stop Online Piracy Act.
Stop Online Piracy Act – Authorizes the Attorney General (AG) to seek a court order against a U.S.-directed foreign Internet site committing or facilitating online piracy to require the owner, operator, or domain name registrant, or the site or domain name itself if such persons are unable to be found, to cease and desist further activities constituting specified intellectual property offenses under the federal criminal code including criminal copyright infringement, unauthorized fixation and trafficking of sound recordings or videos of live musical performances, the recording of exhibited motion pictures, or trafficking in counterfeit labels, goods, or services.
Read more: thomas.loc.gov.
In Avoiding the $475,000 Mistake – Entering the Credit Bid attorney John L. Hosack, Buchalter Nemer, and mortgages expert witness Joffrey Long write:
The Other Problem – “Minimal Opening Bids”
The term “minimal opening bids,” refers to opening bids that have no relation to the value of the property or the equity being sold at the trustee’s sale, such as an opening bid of $2,000 on our $500,000 property. Many lenders start with minimal opening bids, then instruct the trustee to increase their credit bid in the event there are other bidders at the sale. The problem with a dramatically low opening bid is that the “Re-statement of the Law-Property Mortgages” (Fn1) states that if it is determined there were any irregularities with the sale, and the opening bid was for less than 20% of the equity being auctioned, a court may invalidate the foreclosure sale. Opening your bidding at a minimum of 20% of the equity being auctioned creates some protection for a beneficiary in the event an irregularity with the sale is later discovered.
Merchandise licensing expert witnesses may testify on character images, merchandising, and licensing fees. In Power Rangers Halloween Costumes Morph Into Copyright And Trademark Infringement Suit, Milord A. Keshishian writes on the case against Underdog Endeavors, Inc. Go to:
Insurance fraud expert witnesses may testify on insurance claims, insurance regulations, and associated matters. On their website, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud writes:
Low-Risk Crime. Insurance cheaters view insurance fraud as a low-risk, high-reward game, and far safer than drug trafficking or armed robbery. Consider:
Six states still don’t have specific insurance fraud laws, thus discouraging many prosecutors from tackling tough fraud cases.
Risk management expert witnesses may write reports and consult on forecasting, risk assessment, the risk management process, and related topics. Federal law requires industrial facilities that use large amounts of extremely hazardous substances to file a Risk Management Plan with the EPA. In the news, the EPA is making available to the public hundreds of studies on chemicals that had been treated as confidential business information. The move is part of EPA’s plan to make public the chemicals that are not entitled to CBI status. Releasing the data will expand the public’s access to critical health and safety information on chemicals that are manufactured and processed in the U.S. This can be found at Chemical Data Access Tool.
Read more: rtknet.org.
Professional liability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on professional indemnity insurance, errors & omissions insurance, and malpractice insurance, among other topics. On the website Everything Small Business, find the article Small Business Liability Insurance – The 4 Types That You Need To Protect Your Business:
Other Types of Small Business Liability Insurance
Business Owner’s Policies, also known as BOP’s, are policies that are many types of liability put together into one policy. The contents of one of these policies can be custom made by the agent as to what a business owner needs.
Truck drivers expert witnesses may testify on hours of service, trucking accidents, and federal motor vehicle safety standards, as well as related issues. In Monitoring Driver Behavior Can Improve Safety, Reduce Costs, Jim Beach, contributing editor & Deborah Lockridge, editor in chief of Trucking.com write:
Driver monitoring has evolved tremendously in recent years. Some carriers still rely on reports from a 1-800 “how’s my driving” number to find out when a driver is driving poorly, but many more are putting technology to work to take advantage of near-real-time reporting on driver performance. Today’s technologies allow fleets to keep track of not only where their trucks are at any moment, but also how the trucks are being operated.
Marketing expert witness Don E. Smith, President, American Consulting Group, LLC, writes on THE LIMITATIONS OF USING SALES QUOTAS AS THE PRIMARY MEASURE OF PERFORMANCE:
ADDITIONAL QUALITATIVE EVALUATION OPTIONS Define qualitative evaluation measures appropriate for your business. Based on the judgment of your field and headquarters personnel, evaluate each of your distributors. Page 4, table 5.
IV. SUMMARIZE EACH DISTRIBUTOR’S STRENGTHS, AREAS TO IMPROVE AND ACTION PLAN Based on the quantitative and qualitative information, define each distributor’s strengths, areas to improve and action plan. Page 4, table 6. The National Sales Manager or another appropriate person develops the action plan jointly with each distributor. The action plan should be reviewed and revised quarterly.
