Expert Witness Blog

Hours of service expert witnesses may write reports and testify on commercial motor vehicles, trucking safety, commercial motor vehicles, and correlated topics. In Perception of Simulated Driving Performances After Sleep Restriction and Caffeine the Northwestern University Transportation Center shares their research regarding Human Performance in Transportation Safety.

OBJECTIVE: As feelings of alertness are reported to be highly correlated with performance perception, the objective of this study was to determine whether caffeine, a common countermeasure to driver sleepiness, affected a sleepy driver’s ability to monitor his or her simulated driving performance.

Read more: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18061746.

In The Case for Forensic Polygraph Testing in Post-Adjudication Sexual Offender Examination and Management, polygraph expert witness Ken Blackstone writes:

In a post-adjudication setting a convicted or committed offender is expected to take periodic polygraph examinations to encourage candor and discourage any lapse or relapse during treatment and supervision. The use of the polygraph in the evaluation and management of convicted and committed sex offenders is of great interest; treatment providers will often agree that the polygraph is the only existing tool for measuring behavior and supervising officers see the polygraph as a way of keeping offenders accountable. A periodic post-adjudication polygraph examination in the community can be used to assess a variety of issues that may include precursors to a reoccurrence and whether the convicted person should be considered for early release of parole or a relaxation of probation controls. These post-adjudication situations are similar in that these examinations will seldom address a specific “issue at hand” and while they are an option the only other option is prison.

Ken Blackstone is an expert regarding polygraph examinations. He is the author of the book Polygraph, Sex Offenders, and the Court (2011, Emerson Books ISBN 978-061-5506-80-7). www.blackstonepolygraph.com

Liability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on commercial liability policies, professional liability insurance, and small business liability insurance. On the website Everything Small Business, find the article Small Business Liability Insurance – The 4 Types That You Need To Protect Your Business:

Small business liability insurance is just as important for your business as health insurance for small business. This is not unlike business health insurance where you would be looking for affordable group health and comparing prices between insurance companies. When it comes to small business liability insurance, you definitely need to do some comparison shopping.

There are several types of small business liability insurances to choose from, just as there are different types of health insurance, including:

In Speaking English is Key to Safety construction safety expert witness Paul Gogulski, BSCE, PE, writes:

Effective communication is a key ingredient of every construction project and is particularly vital in regard to safety issues. Practically speaking, the current policy of promoting bilingual languages as a social-engineering enterprise across a broad spectrum of the nation has a negative impact on the frequency of accidents in the construction industry. The many recent deaths in Las Vegas construction is a grim demonstration of this fact.

OSHA’s general-duty clause states that every employer will furnish a safe place of employment to each employee “free of recognized hazards.” How many more construction accidents will it take to demonstrate that when a contractor’s personnel cannot speak English, a “recognized hazard” already exists?

Insurance regulations expert witnesses may write reports and opine on health insurance, disability insurance, the insurance industry, and correlated matters. On their website, The National Association of Insurance Commissioners explains that:

The NAIC is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Through the NAIC, state insurance regulators establish standards and best practices, conduct peer review, and coordinate their regulatory oversight. NAIC staff supports these efforts and represents the collective views of state regulators domestically and internationally. NAIC members, together with the central resources of the NAIC, form the national system of state-based insurance regulation in the U.S.

NAIC members are the elected or appointed state government officials who along with their departments and staff, regulate the conduct of insurance companies and agents in their respective state or territory.

Insurance fraud expert witnesses may testify on insurance claims, insurance regulations, and associated matters. In this press release, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control announce that a former Lexington Medicaid provider has pled guilty to Medicaid fraud and forgery charges.

Irvin Smith, Jr. entered guilty pleas in Fayette Circuit Court today to one count of Medicaid fraud and three counts of second degree forgery. All are Class D felonies.

Smith, a behavior supports specialist, was the former owner, principal member/executive director and only employee of Irvco, LLC, a former provider in the Kentucky Medicaid SCL program. A SCL is a home through the Medicaid Community-based waiver program that serves as an alternative to institutional care for mentally challenged or developmentally disabled individuals.

On his website, trucking safety expert witness Lew Grill, the SAGE Corporation, offers a calculator for wind chill:

WIND CHILL: A measure of the cooling effect of wind. Wind increases the rate at which a body loses heat, so the air on a windy day feels cooler than the temperature indicated by a thermometer. This heat loss can be calculated for various combinations of wind speed and air temperature and then converted to a wind chill equivalent temperature (or wind chill factor).

In The Case for Forensic Polygraph Testing in Post-Adjudication Sexual Offender Examination and Management, polygraph expert witness Ken Blackstone writes:

In a pre-adjudication setting a suspect or person of interest may be asked to take a polygraph examination as a means of assessing his or her denials about being knowledgeable, involved or even responsible for the alleged crime. A witness or informant may be asked to submit to a polygraph for the purpose of assessing the accuracy or truth of information he or she has provided. Although “victim testing” by law enforcement is barred in some states, in others an alleged victim of a crime may be asked to take a polygraph test to determine the accuracy or truth of testimony to either support the conviction of a guilty person or prevent the wrongful prosecution of an innocent person. Thus, polygraph examinations are of great importance and impact on the tested individuals and the matters to which they offer evidence. These pre-adjudication situations are all alike in that there is an “issue at hand” and they are truly voluntary.

Ken Blackstone is an expert regarding polygraph examinations. He is the author of the book Polygraph, Sex Offenders, and the Court (2011, Emerson Books ISBN 978-061-5506-80-7). www.blackstonepolygraph.com

In Speaking English is Key to Safety construction safety expert witness Paul Gogulski, BSCE, PE, writes:

As an expert witness specializing in construction accidents, my observations include a very sensitive subject: the increased risk of accidents when a substantial number of workers on a site cannot speak the English language. Every general contractor knows the truth but few dare to openly express it: the more non-English speaking workers employed on site, the greater the risk of errors and accidents.

Even when a requirement for English-speaking foremen is included in the contract, this in itself is not enough to prevent accidents attributable to the hazards created by the barriers imposed by inadequate communication.