In Mold Claims: Recognizing What Is Real and Dealing With the Current Excessive Fears and Claims, pollution expert witness Ronald E. Gots, MD, Ph.D.writes:
RISK DECISION PROCESS
As noted in the introduction, true health risks are generally minimal in most mold contamination situations. Exceptions may rarely exist, i.e., if contamination is extensive,
Certified Professional Agronomist Dale Softley serves as an agricultural expert witness in agricultural fraud cases. In Forensic Agronomy, a new tool to solve old problems, Softley describes forensic agronomy:
Forensic agronomy is the using of agronomic procedures to measure and verify facts pertaining to agricultural claims or losses. Once facts have been quantified and documented there is reduced room for argument, and the emotion of that issue is minimized for the case.
Agronomy is the general study or science of crop production that includes a large number of subtopics such as: genetics, fertility, soil, chemicals, range and grassland management,
In Mold Claims: Recognizing What Is Real and Dealing With the Current Excessive Fears and Claims, pollution expert witness Ronald E. Gots, MD, Ph.D.writes:
Outdoor levels of mold spores in parts of the country (i.e., St. Louis in summer) are routinely 50,000 m3.5 People are being told to evacuate homes which have 5% of those levels. The term “toxic” mold makes no sense.6 Almost all molds can make mycotoxins including Alternaria, one of the most common outdoor molds and always considered “non-toxic” or benign by environmental consultants. One of the reasons for this strange and vast discord between health realities and health perceptions is the lack of medical expert voices in the fray. Instead, the din of “indoor air” experts and “air quality experts,” few of whom have any medical expertise and even fewer of whom have read thoroughly the scientific literature, has coopted this field. Some fringe physicians have also jumped into this arena. The growing interest in testing and finding problems rivals Anderson’s interest in keeping Enron healthy. Thus, they are neither expert, nor impartial.
When the new junior high in Waterford Maine opened for the first time, a teacher observed that the ceiling was deflected and that dust was coming from the ceiling. The school was evacuated and a short time later the roof to collapsed. Wood products expert witness Rubin M. Zallen, P.E., determined that drifting snow increased the snow load and caused the collapse. In his report, Zallen offered these definitions:
The allowable load is also called the safe load; it is the ultimate load divided by an appropriate safety factor. The ultimate load itself may be a collapse load or may be a yield load beyond which excessive deflections would render the member unusable.
Dead load is the weight of the building components.
In Mold Claims: Recognizing What Is Real and Dealing With the Current Excessive Fears and Claims, pollution expert witness Ronald E. Gots, MD, Ph.D.writes:
The recent mold frenzy is the strangest environmental claims issue that I have seen in thirty years of toxicological and environmental litigation consulting. Why? Mold is a natural living material and is essential for life. It has neither become more prevalent than it was twenty years ago; nor is there much additional support for any new adverse health effects despite thousands of active claims alleging the contrary. Most of the allegations in this arena are based upon substantial misinformation, so often repeated that they have garnered an aura of certitude. Among the misinformation: mold and mold toxins in the indoor environment are not known to cause brain damage,1 immunological disorders, bleeding lungs in newborns,2,3 fibromyalgia, attention deficit disorder, cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome. The alleged chronic disorder of “fungal syndrome”4 or “bioaerosal disease” are neither accepted in the medical community, nor known to exist.
Lawyers must be sure that their expert witnesses testify in a way the jury understands clearly. It is often easy for legal counsel to understand testimony because he or she is familiar with it but they must remember that this is the first time jurors have heard it. For example, the equipment and machinery expert witness must be able to testify on the facts, concepts, and technical language in an understandable way on subjects that may include woodworking machinery (radial blades, bandsaws, debarkers, conveyors, lumber stackers, resaws, planers, etc.) and metalworking machinery (cutoff saws, lathes, grinders, sand blasters, punch presses, tipping machines, drills, etc.)
Former Blue Lake, CA, police chief David Gundersen faces two dozen counts of raping his wife Darcie Seal with the use of an intoxicant, as well as charges of violating a court order, attempting to dissuade the victim of a crime, and illegally possessing a submachine gun and a pistol with a silencer attached. Gundersen’s wife feared the would kill her if she testified against him, a District Attorney’s Office investigator and a friend of Gundersen’s wife testified Thursday. Spousal abuse expert witness Diane Wetendorf testified that while domestic violence can take all shapes and forms, it is always about power and control. The TimesStandard reports:
Abusers, Wetendorf testified, often use isolation, emotional abuse, economic abuse and sexual abuse to exert constant control over their partners.
Because of these factors, as well as pressures from family and religion, Wetendorf said it is very common for it to take years for a victim to come forward. And when they eventually do, Wetendorf said, it is very common for them to later recant their statements.
Pesticides expert witness Allan Snyder; ACGIH, AIHA, SPCI writes on treatment and control of termites:
Treatment and control techniques vary depending on the species causing an infestation.
Multiple colonies of the same species of termite or more than one species of termite can infest a building.
In Using Marketing, Business & Competitive Research to Win Cases, Don E. Smith, marketing expert witness and President of American Consulting Group, Inc. explains that marketing research is a powerful tool that helps lawyers win cases.
Areas that benefit from marketing research:
Advertising effectiveness
In Mediation as a Discovery Tool, insurance expert witness Guy O. Kornblum describes the benefits of going to mediation:
So, mediation can be very productive as a discovery tool and opportunity to learn more about your client’s case, and what the other side has to say IF the parties come in good faith, with a view towards getting the important facts on the table. But if one side is attending simply to demonstrate that it is playing hardball and merely wants the other side to capitulate for reasons that are not meritorious, then a mediation is not worth the time or money.
One issue that you face is how much you tell the other side. For example, what if you have significant negative information on the other party, or impeachment potential; do you share that? Maybe not. Maybe it has to be saved to avoid the adverse party being able to defuse this potential damaging evidence. Or, it might be that you can disclose the essence of this information in a private letter to the mediator, and can go over its substance and level of importance in your case in a private caucus. That is a judgment call that you as counsel need to make. If you follow this approach and hold it back or disclose it only to the mediator, the mediator might use it if he or she believes it may result in closure. Again, that is something you and the mediator need to discuss to put together a strategy.
