Expert Witness Blog

Truck manufacturing industry expert witnesses may write reports and opine on on issues including federal motor carrier safety regulations, truck maintenance, and related topics. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association which represents over 700 companies that manufacture and remanufacture motor vehicle parts writes:

Motor vehicle parts suppliers are the nation’s largest manufacturing sector, directly employing over 685,000 U.S. workers and contributing to over 3.2 million jobs across the country. MEMA’s aftermarket affiliate, the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), exclusively represents the North American Aftermarket supplier industry and is recognized as one of the nation’s strongest and most prominent trade organizations with more than 100 years of experience. AASA’s sole mission is to help its members, the aftermarket suppliers, to be more profitable, innovative and competitive on a global scale.

Ann Wilson, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, writes:

Dance club security expert witness Bill Nesbitt is a Board Certified Protection Professional. On his website he answers the question:

Everyone claims to be a Security Consultant, especially since 9/11. How can I tell a fake from the real thing?

First look for a Security Consultant that is credentialed. The widest accepted credential is the “CPP” (Board Certified Protection Professional) designation which appears after the consultant’s name. Second, the years of experience are also important criteria. There is no substitute for hands-on experience. The kind and nature of experience are also important considerations. For example, Healthcare Security requires intimate knowledge of that environment as well as the myriad of regulatory agencies that impinge on that industry.

Truck maintenance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on on issues including federal motor carrier safety regulations, truck inspections, and related topics. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association writes:

In order to ensure that a motor vehicle functions safely, the vehicle and its safety systems and components must be properly maintained. Unfortunately, this regular and necessary maintenance is not always performed. In fact, the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) estimated that $54 billion of vehicle maintenance was unperformed or underperformed in 2009 alone. Regular safety inspections help ensure that critical safety equipment on vehicles is functioning properly.

Recent studies conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol demonstrate that effective state inspection programs save lives. For example, the Pennsylvania study estimated the state will have between 115 and 169 fewer fatal crashes each year because of the state’s annual vehicle inspection program. This corresponds to between 127 and 187 fewer fatalities annually. The Pennsylvania study went on to estimate that fatal accidents are 13 percent higher in states without vehicle safety inspection programs than in states with programs. In the United States, each state government is free to decide whether to require vehicle safety inspections, as well as to stipulate the specifics of the inspection program. Fewer than half of the states currently require vehicle inspections. Fourteen states have an annual safety inspection program in place, while three states require safety inspections once every two years. Two states require an inspection prior to the sale or transfer of a vehicle and one state requires an inspection when registering a vehicle from another state jurisdiction. This leaves 30 states and the District of Columbia without a safety inspection program.

Interior design expert witness Robert R. Tellez answers the question:

What is a construction defect?

A construction defect can arise from a multiplicity of factors, such as workmanship or inferior materials. Common examples of housing and construction defects are water leakage from windows, faulty exterior envelope systems in a commercial or a residential home. A construction defect is a condition in your home or building that reduces the life expectancy of one or many different building components. Some defects are obvious such as water intrusion, but many are less obvious and do not become apparent until years after the home was built. A construction defect is any building imperfection or design fault that reduces the value of the building.

Department of Transportation expert witnesses may write reports and testify on qualifications of truck drivers, and federal motor vehicle safety standards, as well as related issues. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, in 2009, 3,619 individuals were killed and 74,652 were injured on our nation’s highways in accidents involving heavy-duty trucks and buses. In its 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS), the DOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that more than 60 percent of these types of accidents were the result of rear-end collisions, side-swipe accidents, loss of control, and/or running off the road or out of the lane. Brake problems were factors in about 30 percent of crashes studied in the LTCCS. Motor vehicle parts manufacturers make commercially-available technologies to address these types of accident scenarios.

Read more: mema.org.

Taverns expert witness Maj. Mark Willingham is a retired state police commander. On his website, Willingham describes alcohol service and use.

A key element of many alcohol related injuries and deaths is the difference between what an alcoholic beverage retailer should have done and what that retailer actually did in the service or use of beverage alcohol. Responsible retailing of alcohol (and other age restricted products) involves a combination of effective training, alcohol service policies and practices, and continual management involvement. Responsible retailing of alcohol will always be a work in progress.

Night clubs expert witness Bill Nesbitt is a Board Certified Protection Professional. On his website he answers the question:

Why is a security assessment (sometimes referred to as a security survey, vulnerability assessment, threat assessment, or security audit) so important?

Many security programs result from a series of reactions to perceived acute security breeches. Many of these kinds of programs resemble a patchwork quilt with no specific theme or mission. At some point, especially since 9/11, every business must establish a baseline from which to move forward into the future. There is a need to establish a foundational basis, at some point, for everything that is to follow. Those enterprises that fail to come to this conclusion usually have security programs that do not sufficiently produce adequate return on investment. A security assessment will allow the business to establish a foundation on which to build on for at least the next five years.

Trucking expert witnesses may write reports and opine on on issues including federal motor carrier safety regulations, truck maintenance, and related topics. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association writes:

Passenger cars share the road with commercial vehicles like medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which are used to move the vast majority of goods in the United States. Additionally, we depend on school and transit buses and emergency vehicles to operate in a safe and efficient manner. Heavy-duty suppliers provide the original equipment parts used to manufacture commercial vehicles and aftermarket replacement parts needed to maintain the vehicles in service and on the road. Heavy-duty suppliers are also responsible for developing most of the technologies that keep these vehicles safe.

Visit the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA) website, part of the MEMA network, to learn more.

Federal motor vehicle safety standards expert witnesses may opine on the truck manufacturing industry, federal motor vehicle safety standards of truck drivers, and related topics. On their website, The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers offers a link to Follow your Wreck-less Checklist

1. Consciously make a decision each and every time you get behind the wheel to make all other activities, passengers and priorities secondary to driving.

2. Before you start your car: