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Prosecutors rested their case Thursday against a Billings, MT, woman charged with aggravated assault after an expert in child abuse told the District Court jury that the 8-month-old victim’s injuries could not have happened from an accidental fall. Dr. Wilbur Smith, a nationally known expert in child abuse and child brain injuries, testified at the trial of Nevada Ugalde, who is accused of causing severe injuries to the child she was baby-sitting on June 11, 2008. Smith said he determined that the injuries suffered by the child, Isaiah Napier, were the result of abuse.

The brain injury expert witness said the child will suffer some permanent brain damage due to the severity of the injuries. Ugalde’s defense attorney has said the woman will testify at her trial. Ugalde denies harming the child, saying the child fell out of a crib.

Excerpted from billingsgazette.com.

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In his article Insurers: To Rescind Or Not to Rescind?, insurance agency expert witness Akos Swierkiewicz writes:

Misrepresentation or concealment is material if it affects the underwriting decision of the insurer. For example, the premium would have been higher had the insurer been aware of the true and complete facts.

Property-casualty policies typically include conditions pertaining to the subject of rescission, such as:

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Forensic psychiatry expert witness Dr. Montgomery Brower testified today that accused killer John Odgren gave varying accounts of the fatal Lincoln Sudbury High School stabbing to cope with what happened. Odgren, 19, is on trial for first-degree murder for the Jan. 19, 2007 stabbing death of classmate James Alenson, 15. His defense attorneys do not dispute that Odgren, then 16, fatally stabbed Alenson, but say he was legally insane when the crime occurred.

Brower is the third defense expert witness to testify Odgren was out of his mind at the time of the stabbing and is not criminally responsible for his actions.

For more, see bostonherald.com.

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In THE PERFECT STORM: The Science Behind Subrogating Catastrophic Flood Losses, hydrology expert witness Richard Van Bruggen writes on hydrologic simulations and modeling:

Frequently, even a storm event of historic proportions might not have caused damage to your insured’s property had it not been for a specific existing condition, such as a levy in disrepair, clogged sewer drains, culverts in need of maintenance, malfunctioning flap valves, etc. While it is easy to show that a drain was not kept clean or that a culvert was left in a clogged condition, it is another thing altogether to prove to a jury that the condition actually caused the flood damage for which the insurance company has paid and you are now subrogating. A flood level of two feet might require some cosmetic cleanup and minor repairs to a fleet of stored vehicles. Six inches higher and you could be looking at crushing all of the cars. This is where modeling becomes indispensable.

There are computer models that use rainfall depth-duration-frequency data and watershed characteristics, such as the Time of Concentration, in order to develop peak flows (Qs). It is usually the case that stream flow gage data is either of a short time record or is unavailable altogether, whereas rain gages are more plentiful and typically have longer periods of record. It is by way of a Hydrologic Analysis that we determine what the design flows are for storm drain systems, bridges and culverts.

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In Annuities for Dummies: A Buyers Guide, annuities expert witness Stephen George writes:

Buying annuities requires studying features and comparison shopping. Annuities are not considered investments, but evaluating them requires similar comparisons of safe returns against other investments like CD’s, money market funds, savings accounts, high grade bonds and treasury bills over similar terms. If held to maturity, annuities can avoid probate while guaranteeing no risk to principal, income for life, minimum interest returns, upside-only index interest participation, immediate interest bonus, and legal insulation from creditors in some states. Many people buy annuities to protect their safe money, or money they cannot afford to lose.

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In his article Insurers: To Rescind Or Not to Rescind?, insurance agency expert witness Akos Swierkiewicz writes:

Rescission of an insurance policy is serious business. Such action could result in serious financial difficulties to insureds, especially if it occurs after a major loss. Furthermore, costly and protracted litigation almost inevitably follows to contest the rescission.

Fortunately, insureds and their brokers can minimize the potential for rescission by simply exercising greater care to ascertain the accuracy of underwriting information, and by providing all material information to insurers. Also, rescission decisions are made by insurers only if they are convinced that they have adequate justification for them.

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In Are You Ready to Be An Expert Witness? computer expert witness Judd Robbins writes: “The fact is, judges and juries aren’t fond of ‘professional’ expert witnesses, who go from trial to trial as their primary means of support. But they do like working professionals who have an expertise in their fields, who maintain their day jobs, but who also know and understand the legal process.”

Robbins advises professionals who want to get into the expert witness field that they need to become familiar with the three primary ways expert witnesses work with attorneys:

(3 of 3) Opinions — In some cases, you will then use the information from the assessment stage to form an opinion, and then you will be called upon to deliver that opinion in court on the witness stand or in a recorded deposition. In many more instances, however, your work will take place entirely behind the scenes as an expert who never testifies.

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Medical expert witnesses at Medical Opinions Associates write on tort reform:

Defensive medicine is the hardest to deal with because its impact is difficult to calculate. There is no doubt that there are more medical tests being ordered for fear of medical liability then there would be otherwise. The question is what is the impact. Nobody really knows (GAO 03-836). We do know that medical insurance costs average about 3.2% of average physician revenues. We also know that 5.5% of physicians cause 57.3% of all medical malpractice payouts to patients. Do we approach the problem, as some have suggested, by not interfering with tort claims and instead going after the few transgressors?

Much study still needs to be done, but the end game will not change. As a society, we will have to decide whether we want to prevent or limit the legitimate claims of citizens damaged by medical errors by making it harder to obtain compensation for those errors, or insulate physicians and thus reduce the motivation for defensive medicine in the hope that the cost savings will justify the lost opportunities.

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In When the Phone Rings … Twelve Questions for Prospective Expert Witness Assignments, risk management expert witness Kevin M. Quinley, CPCU, ARM, AIC, writes:

(10) How voluminous are the materials that need to be reviewed? It may matter to you whether the answer is 200 pages or six bankers’ boxes. Again, consider the deadline for submitting expert reports in conjunction with the estimated amount of material to be reviewed. The relationship between these two may impact your interest and ability to take the case, especially if you are stretched thin juggling other commitments. Extensive document review under a tight time frame may impact your willingness to take the case, your ability to devote the needed time to it, and the pricing level you quote for the engagement.

Kevin M. Quinley is a leading authority on insurance issues, including risk management, claims, bad faith, coverages and litigation management. He is the author of more than 600 articles and 10 books. You can reach him through http://www.insuranceexpertnetwork.com/.

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In Are You Ready to Be An Expert Witness? intellectual property expert witness Judd Robbins writes: “The fact is, judges and juries aren’t fond of ‘professional’ expert witnesses, who go from trial to trial as their primary means of support. But they do like working professionals who have an expertise in their fields, who maintain their day jobs, but who also know and understand the legal process.”

Robbins advises professionals who want to get into the expert witness field that they need to become familiar with the three primary ways expert witnesses work with attorneys:

(2 of 3) Assessment — Attorneys will sometimes hire you to assess the technical merits of either or both side’s claims. Your job is to make an objective assessment about the potential strengths or weaknesses of those claims, giving your client the ability to use that information to either prove their case or disprove their opponent’s case.

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