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In Are You Waiting Too Long To Hire An Expert?, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:

Once the need for an expert becomes inevitable through fact pattern or because your adversary has made the choice for you by their strategy to use an expert, you should retain and consult with your expert as soon as possible. The earlier the expert is involved in the case the faster they become thoroughly familiar with significant facts. This advantage will often expose elements of your case that you may not have considered initially. Your expert should be able to give you an objective and detailed analysis of both the strengths and vulnerabilities that may be faced, specific to the areas of his or her expertise.

Waiting to choose an expert until later in the process runs the risk of being unable to retain the best candidate for your particular litigation. The most frustrating situation you can put your expert witness in is with a request to review extensive materials in an unrealistic time line and often where experts on the other side have been in place for some time and thus have a distinct advantage.

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Disaster risk management expert witnesses may testify on loss of life and property damage from natural hazards. The 5th Annual Hazus Conference will be held on August 10-12, 2011 in Seattle, WA. The Hazus Conference, sponsored by FEMA Mitigation Division is the premier risk assessment conference for GIS specialists, emergency managers, geologists, state/local planners, educators and private entities that are using Hazus for decision-making and response planning.

Read more: hazus.org.

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On his website, homeowner’s insurance expert witness Burl Daniel, CPCU, CIC, CRM describes the The National Flood Insurance Program:

Created by Congress in 1968, The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is the largest single peril insurance program in the world. FEMA contracts with over 100 “Write Your Own” (WYO) insurance carriers to administer underwriting and process claims. With only one peril to insure and carriers to help, insuring against flood loss should be simple – but that’s not always the case.

Residential Property under NFIP

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In Fatal Asthma, pulmonary medicine expert witness Dr. James F. Lineback, Newport Longevity Medical Group, writes:

Asthmatics who eventually go on to develop acute respiratory failure experience a gradual drop in blood oxygen and ,eventually, an elevated arterial carbon dioxide level during the time when most of their strength is devoted to breathing. As oxygen continues to drop and pressure inside the chest rises due to an increased respiratory effort, the heartbeat may become irregular which can result in a fatal cardiac arrhythmia if the problem is not solved immediately.

Early treatment of asthma actually prevents the accumulation of dried secretions in the airways, as well as the narrowing of those structures. As that process progresses, however, treatment becomes increasingly difficult, which may eventually place these patients at high risk for a fatal outcome. Appropriate management, therefore, involves aggressive treatment at an early stage in order to prevent these patients from progressing to a stage where they eventually become at high risk for a fatal outcome.

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In Agent Errors and Omissions Insurance Expert, insurance agencies expert witness Burl Daniel, CPCU, CIC, CRM,

Insurance agents and brokers are under constant scrutiny for their errors and omissions; this scrutiny often results in questions regarding agents’ performance. Among these questions: What standard of care should clients reasonably expect from their agent or broker? What insurance customs and practices should apply to a given set of circumstances? Who said what – and when, and where? How were insurance transactions documented?

Read more, including Common Causes of Agent Errors & Omissions Allegations.

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In Fatal Asthma, pulmonary medicine expert witness Dr. James F. Lineback, Newport Longevity Medical Group, writes:

Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of asthmatics experience mild symptoms that are easily treated with medications which open up the airway and reduce inflammation in those structures. A certain subset however, have more severe narrowing of the airways and must be treated more aggressively and monitored more carefully with serial pulmonary function testing.

Patients with severe asthma require more medication, have more frequent visits to the emergency room, and may actually require mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure. These patients constitute a high risk group for a fatal outcome and generally have certain risk factors, such as steroid dependence, prior need for mechanical ventilation, a high number of medications, and frequent episodes of acute respiratory failure. Aggressive treatment in this group prevents accumulation of dried secretions in the airways as well as severe life threatening airway obstruction. Once this process occurs, these patients are faced with a significant increase “work of breathing” which eventually leads to respiratory muscle fatigue.

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Logistics expert witnesses may advise regarding freight forwarders and cargo movement. In the news, RLS Corporation, a third-party logistics provider, announced the launch of the first phase of its next-generation website at www.rlscorp.com.

The new website features critical real-time updates for the logistics industry, including national weather conditions and fuel prices. The site also provides the latest news from key industry groups, such as the American Trucking Association, the Transportation Intermediaries Association, and the National Industrial Transportation League.

Read more: rlscorp.com.

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CalCoastNews.com reports that pharmacology expert witness Neemah Yamin-Esfandiary testified that Kaylee Weisenberg, accused of killing California Highway Patrol Officer Bret Oswald in 2010 crash, outside of Paso Robles, CA, was not under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the accident.

Read more: CalCoastNews.com.

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Trucking industry expert witnesses may consult on issues involving the Department of Transportation, trucking and transportation rules and regulations, and more. In Changes at Port Terminals Needed to Improve Operations, Not an Act of Congress, truckline.com writes:

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, 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.

Read more: truckline.com.