Expert Witness Blog

Insurance expert witnesses may opine on commercial liability policies, business insurance, and liability insurance, among other topics. In How Small Businesses Can Buy Peace of Mind, ABMN staff write:

Potential lawsuits are one of the biggest unknowns that can shut down a small business. In 2011, small businesses are projected to incur $152 billion in tort liability costs, according to the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Professional liability insurance can be an easy and inexpensive way to cover the defense costs of possible lawsuits.

“Everybody make mistakes, but these don’t need to be fatal to your business and your other assets,” said Kevin Kerridge, small business insurance expert from Hiscox USA. “However, small businesses are vulnerable to lawsuits even if they’ve done nothing wrong. Purchasing professional liability insurance for a small business allows owners to focus on their customers and worry less about potential troubles around the next corner and any potential attorneys’ fees.”

Industrial psychology expert witnesses writes reports and opine in numerous areas involving people at work. Here, IO psychology expert Dr. Bob Rose, writes:

Many people are not familiar with the work of Industrial-Organizational Psychologists (often referred to as “IO’s”.) IO Psychologists are trained in Psychology – usually at the PhD level – but work within business settings. Rather than counsel for depression and family issues as the more well-known Clinical Psychologists do, IO Psychologists work in such areas as pre-hire assessment of job candidates, business coaching, team building, evaluation of problems such as sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, etc. Businesses who want to be pro-active can use these services to improve the quality of employees, make their employees more satisfied etc. Attorneys who need experts who understand behavior and motivation specifically within a business setting may find IOs a good hybrid of business expert and psychologist.

Commercial designs expert witnesses may testify on space planning, green retrofits, interior design, and related topics. At BuildingDesign&Construction.com, Drew Ballensky writes:

Historic find raises cost of NYC City Hall Rehab; PV panel plan scrapped

The discoveries of a colonial-era structure onsite and more serious structural deterioration than expected have led to a projected 12% increase in the renovation of New York’s City Hall. The structure located behind City Hall yielded artifacts, including a bayonet that may have belonged to a British soldier during the Revolutionary War, and British farthings minted between 1746-54.

Interior design expert witnesses may testify on space planning, green retrofits, commercial designs, and related topics. At BuildingDesign&Construction.com, Drew Ballensky writes:

California turns its attention to seismic retrofits following massive earthquakes overseas

Major earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand have California officials focused on the quake vulnerability of thousands of concrete buildings built before the state adopted stringent seismic building codes. California has an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 brittle concrete buildings lacking sufficient reinforcing steel.

In THE BUSINESS SECURITY TEST, bar security expert witness Robert A. Gardner, CPP, writes that “no business is totally immune from the threat of crime but a little prior planning and a few common sense precautions are all that is necessary to deter most criminals.”

Office Security 18. Do you record all equipment serial numbers and file them in a safe place?

19. Do you shred sensitive documents before discarding them?

Pesticides expert witnesses may write reports and opine on pesticide contamination, insects, pesticide products, and pest control. Here, the EPA discusses pest control devices.

Pesticides are commonly thought of as chemicals. But EPA also has a role in regulating devices used to control pests. How a device might be regulated, however, depends on the device’s specific design and function and whether it incorporates or is used with a pesticide.

A product is a pesticide if it incorporates a substance or mixture of substances designed to prevent, attract, repel, destroy, or mitigate a pest. A product is a pest control device (or “device”) if it uses only physical or mechanical means to trap, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest and does not include any pesticidal substance or mixture of substances. For example, an ant trap would NOT be considered a pest control device, because it contains a pesticide chemical substance intended to work in concert with the physical container. It is therefore subject to regulation under pesticide law.

In THE BUSINESS SECURITY TEST, nightclub security expert witness Robert A. Gardner, CPP, writes that “no business is totally immune from the threat of crime but a little prior planning and a few common sense precautions are all that is necessary to deter most criminals.”

Office Security

1. Do you restrict office keys to those who actually need them?

Pesticide products expert witnesses may testify on fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and related topics. Here, the EPA discusses pest control devices.

If a device and a pesticide product are packaged together, that combined product is a pesticide product subject to registration requirements. For example, 1-Octen-3-ol (octenol) is registered as a pesticide product intended to attract certain species of mosquitoes and biting flies. If octenol is distributed or sold in or packaged with a trap for that purpose, the combination product is a pesticide product that must be registered separately. If the trap is sold without the octenol, it is a device regulated by EPA.

A device is NOT required to be registered with EPA; however, other requirements do apply to devices. The sections on this page below provide additional examples and links that highlight different ways devices are regulated, not regulated, and associated information. For questions about whether a specific product is a device or not, you should contact your EPA regional office.

Biomedical expert witnesses may write reports and testify on biomedical engineering, biomedical physics, and biotechnology, among other topics. On their website, the Biomedical Engineering Society describes bioengineering:

Bioengineering integrates physical, chemical, or mathematical sciences and engineering principles for the study of biology, medicine, behavior, or health. It advances fundamental concepts, creates for the molecular to the organ systems levels, and develops innovative biologics, materials, processes, implants, devices, and informatics approaches for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, for patient rehabilitation, and for improving health[iii].

Generally, bioengineering encompasses other engineering disciplines when they are applied to living organisms (e.g. prosthetics in mechanical engineering). Bioengineering is often synonymous with biomedical engineering, though in the strict sense the term can be applied more broadly to include food engineering and agricultural engineering. Biotechnology also falls under the purview of the broad umbrella of bioengineering. Biological Engineering is the same thing as Agricultural Engineering, whereas Biomedical engineering (also known as bioengineering) is related with the medical field. Biological engineering is called Bioengineering by some colleges and Biomedical engineering is called Bioengineering by others.

In No room to stand, medical insurance expert witness Robert H. Dobson writes on maximum benefits:

Abstract

The idea of taxing so-called Cadillac plans may not sound unreasonable upon first glance. But an actuarial view quickly reveals that the high cost of these plans has as much to do with the characteristics of the covered population as it does with benefit richness. It also reveals that the method of determining the taxable benefit threshold may create unintended consequences-especially when coupled with other benefit-level requirements under various reform proposals, leaving little room between benefit floors and the ceiling in certain slices of the insurance market. Is there a better way to structure a ceiling for maximum benefits? One solution might entail better defining actuarial value and using the refined notion to address both the floor and the ceiling.