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JDSupra writes: Litigation Advisory – Changes to Federal Rules Regarding Expert Witness Discovery:

A major revision to Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing expert witness discovery went into effect on December 1, 2010. As a result of these changes, Rule 26 no longer allows full discovery of draft expert reports or broad disclosure of communications between attorneys and expert witnesses, as had been the case since 1993. Instead, draft expert reports and communications between counsel and expert witnesses are now protected by the work-product doctrine. While prohibiting discovery of draft expert reports and significantly limiting discovery of Attorney-Expert communications, Rule 26 continues to require full disclosure of the expert’s opinions and the facts or data used to support them.

Read more: JPSupra.com. Contributor: Mintz Levin

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The Ledger.com writes: It should have been a simple eminent domain case. The city of Lakeland, FL, pays two residents for property it needed for townhouses and condominiums. Instead, the case has dragged on for nearly five years, cost the city $168,000 in lawyer’s fees and led to major problems for two holdouts. At issue in August was who would pay the fees for engineering expert witnesses and land planners. Mark Miller, the lawyer for the city, agreed to pay for the three witnesses used before the attempt to settle in 2007.

Read more: theledger.com.

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From The Journal Gazette: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted this spring promised sweeping changes, but many local public and private employers are exempting themselves from some of its most stringent rules. Many of the public employers couldn’t offer specific provisions they wanted to avoid, but the uncertainty created by the law has led many to seek the exemption, according to a local insurance expert.

Denny Wright, president of IntraHealth Solutions and past president of the Indiana State Association of Health Underwriters, said the law has caused uncertainty for businesses. His company is a third-party administrator of health insurance for other businesses.

Read more: journalgazette.net.

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In How to Write a Medical Malpractice Expert Witness Report, attorney Vivian Pearson explains:

Your medical malpractice expert witness report should be targeted to your attorney’s specifications. Before you begin to prepare your report, know what he or she is expecting in terms or length, formatting, font, and amount of details to include. To ensure that you meet your attorney’s guidelines and ensure you are paid on time, give your attorney a draft of the report to review before you put it in final form.

1. Ask the attorney you are working for to help you define the scope of your report. Most jurisdictions have written rules that define what you may include in your medical malpractice expert witness report. Before you begin to work on the report, get a written set of guidelines.

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Disability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on managed care, HMOs, and insurance claims. Medical expert Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H. explains that for someone with fibromyalgia, it’s a difficult step to apply for disability and upsetting if an insurance company representative appears not to believe that they are actually very ill. He says the patient can improve their fibromyalgia disability claim by imagining themselves in the medical insurance examiner’s place.

Medical Expert Witness Issue #1:

Your insurance company isn’t allowed to assume that you are telling the truth just because you say so. Insurance companies have learned by hard experience with other forms of illness that a few individuals exaggerate their symptoms. Therefore, a disability insurance company has not only the right, but an obligation to satisfy themselves that the claims they pay are, in fact, valid.

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Media analysis expert witnesses may write reports and testify on mass media and related topics. In What the #$%& is Social Marketing?!! Media Communications Association- International member Susan Solomon writes:

Relationships begin with conversations. With the advent of social marketing, technology has shifted the power away from editors, publishers and the establishment to the people.

According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer survey, people are saying, “I can no longer rely on a single source of information. The omniscient, all-powerful, single source – whether it’s a news anchor, doctor, CEO or government is gone.” One of the most trusted sources of information is word of mouth, from friends and family. When you develop a social marketing strategy for your product or service, think of it as a conversation – not a campaign. This second of our 2-part series will cover the broad functions of MySpace, Twitter and You Tube, within the social marketing landscape.

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Insurance claims expert witnesses may opine on insurance companies, bad faith, liability insurance, and related topics. In When Insurers Hide Behind their Experts in Texas, Sergio V. Leal, Esq. writes:

The Texas Supreme Court stated that an insurer’s reliance upon an expert’s report alone will not necessarily shield the insurer from liability if there is evidence that the report was not objectively prepared or the insurer’s reliance was unreasonable. Overturning an intermediate appellate court decision, the Texas Supreme Court found that there was evidence to support the jury’s finding that the insurer denied the claim in bad faith because there was evidence from which the jury could infer that HAAG’s reports were not objectively prepared, that the insurer was aware of HAAG’s lack of objectivity, and that the insurer’s reliance on the reports was merely pretextual.

Nicolau reaffirmed the long-established idea that insurance companies cannot expect their experts’ reports alone to shield them from bad faith liability.

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Wood expert witnesses may write reports and opine on lumber, plywood, saw mills, pressed wood products, and related topics. The Wood Shop Consultancy offers ways to avoid disputes in Wood: Avoiding the pitfalls – How a basic understanding of timber technology can help to avoid problems in use:

One other significant factor related to moisture content is the susceptibility of timber to decay. Wood destroying fungi, often responsible for timber decay in buildings and wooden structures, require timber to have a moisture content in excess of 22% for a prolonged period in order for them to become established and sustain their attack. However, a higher moisture content is one of the factors required by the fungi for optimum growth. For example, the true dry rot fungus, Serpula lacrymans, favours a moisture content of around 30-40%, while many of the wet rot fungi require a moisture content of around 50%.

Moisture content is of course just one factor when considering using timber. There is a wide range of industry standards and guidelines relating to timber specification to ensure that the correct timber is used in respect of durability, strength, appearance, movement characteristics etc.

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