Expert Witness Blog

Tree removal expert witnesses may write reports and opine on tree pruning, the safety of nearby trees, and tree removal, among other topics. The Tree Care Industry Association reports that winter storms with high winds, ice and snow, put tremendous pressures on trees growing near houses or power lines. In their wake, property owners face the task of clearing trees and downed limbs. TCIA offers these safety tips to help avoid personal injury or damage to property during storm clean-up.

When deciding whether to try removing a tree yourself:

Consider the size and location of the tree. If it is more than 20 feet tall or you would have to leave the ground to take it down in pieces, call a professional. Even small trees bent under tension can be extremely hazardous.

Insurance coverage expert witnesses may testify regarding insurance policy coverage and insurance loss claims. The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents reports on crop insurance questions following an intentional levee breach.

Homeowners whose property was flooded after the levee at Birds Point, Missouri, was breached by the Army Corps of Engineers on May 3 are questioning whether they will be able to collect on crop insurance claims. In his challenge to the Corps’ authority to release water into the floodway, Chris Koster, the Missouri attorney general, said that it was unclear whether insurers would compensate losses from the breach. Koster said that some insurers suggested that claims would not be paid since the flooding was not a natural disaster.

Read more: pianet.com.

In Toxicity of Crude Oil and It’s Vapors environmental toxicology expert witness Dr. Richard Parent writes:

Some of the immediate symptoms resulting from exposure to crude oil would include difficulty breathing, nausea, headaches, dizziness in relatively healthy people, but those with conditions such as COPD, allergies, and asthma would be affected even more and their health problems significantly exacerbated. Effects presenting at a later time could result in long-term effects on the respiratory, immune, nervous, and reproductive systems and may even result in birth defects and cancers. Endocrine disruption, DNA damage, damage to the developing fetus, blood disorders, and mutations have all been shown to result from exposure to the components of crude oil.

In conclusion, crude oil is a highly toxic mixture of carcinogens, neurotoxins, respiratory irritants, hepatotoxins, nephrotoxins, and mutagens. Its toxic effects can be both acute and chronic resulting in a number of immediate symptoms and significant long-term effects including reproductive problems and cancer. Exposure to crude can be through the air as a result of volatilization of some of its components, through direct contact by dermal penetration, and orally through the ingestion of contaminated food.

Insurance expert witnesses may testify on homeowner’s insurance, auto insurance claims, and related topics. Recently, price comparison websites have come under fire for misleading people about the best deals available. The websites promise a ‘one-stop shop’ for products that include insurance, utilities, loans and broadband deals. But there can be wide discrepancies in prices between sites.

Some have commercial ties or are owned by companies whose products tend to come out cheaper on that particular website. Moneysupermarket’s insurance expert, Peter Harrison, admitted the website had exclusive deals with some companies. ‘That way we can get customers great deals,’ he added. For example, in the UK, the insurance company Admiral owns Confused.com.

Read more: metro.co.uk.

In Toxicity of Crude Oil and It’s Vapors environmental toxicology expert witness Dr. Richard Parent writes:

Also contained in crude oil are several polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, many of which are also classified as known human carcinogens. These materials mostly have very limited volatility, but they can penetrate human and animal skin resulting in significant exposure to those contacting the crude oil. They can adhere also to airborne dust particles and be inhaled. These polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PNAs) tend to concentrate in fatty tissue and are slowly released into the body producing a long-term exposure scenario. Animals and aquatic life exposed to crude also would be expected to concentrate these PNAs in fatty tissue which could later be consumed by humans resulting in additional exposure to polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The use of dispersants exacerbates this problem and, in my opinion, significantly increases the toxicity of crude oil and its components to marine life. This could easily be tested using standard toxicological protocols, but, to my knowledge, this has not been done.

Read more: consultox.com.

Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and testify on trucking and transportation rules and regulations, including federal motor carrier safety regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reopened its hours-of-service proposed rule to public comments in order to allow review of four new studies.

FMCSA did not immediately say how long it would extend the comment period, but the agency is under a court-ordered deadline to post a final rule by July 26. The previous HOS comment period ended March 4. The four studies are related to driver fatigue, FMCSA said in a statement Friday. The agency posted links to the studies on its website.

American Trucking Associations, which has challenged the proposed rule, said that because of “serious questions about the research and data used by FMCSA to justify its proposed changes to the regulations, the agency may have determined it could not move forward with development of a final rule.”

Read more: ttnews.com.

In What the Defendant Can Do Wrong, security management and risk management expert witness Ira Somerson, BCFE, CPP, CSC, writes on organizing security functions.

Senior management of most organizations believe that a security function is purely a cost center and does not produce any “net present value” to their organization. For this reason, discovery and investigation will very likely reveal that security departments and/or functions are routinely downsized or eliminated exposing their organization to serious threats. Their objective is economy, but the very opposite will often occur. “The responsibilities of security directors are evolving from “locks, bolts, and badges” (Felson, 1988) and perimeter protection to a more sophisticated involvement in organizational management. Confronted with novel, complex security exposures and attendant risks, traditional security functions are becoming only a part of the larger overall responsibilities of security directors. Given this evolution, the motivating problem of this paper is: What is the best approach to managing the growing complexity of corporate security threats so as to provide minimal security losses, for a particular level of investment in security? This paper argues that to provide an optimum level of security service to the organization not only must the security department be repositioned within the modern corporate but that its management required the development of a new paradigm of organizing security functions. The approach taken here to developing such a paradigm focuses on demonstrating the weaknesses of a cost center management approach, which is considered representative of existing security management practices, and on advocating the strengths of moving toward a profit center management approach…”

Tree expert witnesses may write reports and opine on tree pruning, the safety of nearby trees, and tree removal, among other topics. The Tree Care Industry Association reports that winter storms with high winds, ice and snow, put tremendous pressures on trees growing near houses or power lines. In their wake, property owners face the task of clearing trees and downed limbs. TCIA offers these safety tips to help avoid personal injury or damage to property during storm clean-up.

If a utility line is down:

Do not approach. Assume any downed line is energized.

Silicone products expert witnesses may testify on sealants, intravenous tubes, microchips, paint, ultraviolet resistant sun lotion, and more. The Silicone Industry Association of Japan describes silicones as having “an exceptional breadth of chemical and physical qualities, making them the material of choice for industries ranging from aviation to textiles.

Silicones are astonishingly versatile because adding different molecules and compounds to the core molecular structure will enhance or modify the silicone properties. The result is a readily adaptable material that can be manufactured in more than 2,000 different forms such as solids, liquids, oils, greases, semi-viscous pastes, antifoams, impregnating agents, release agents, silicone rubber and more.

Read more: siaj.