There can be advantages in using an expert witness who has never testified at trial before. Juries may respond positively to an expert who avoids the “hired gun” or “professional witness” label. Whether auditioning the expert who has never testified or the seasoned expert, it is important to determine whether the expert can respond well to instructions, has jury appeal, and can stand up well to cross-examination. When hiring an education and schools expert witness, for instance, can they explain their areas of expertise such as special education, school districts, staff dismissal, and staff hiring, clearly to the jury?
Hiring the Child Abuse Expert Witness
Hiring the child abuse expert witness early on in your case will benefit you in several ways. These include:
1) The expert can advise you of past or pending cases with similar issues involving the physical, emotional, or sexual mistreatment of children.
2) They can put you in touch with the attorneys and witnesses from those cases.
Weather and Meteorology Expert Witnesses
Retain your expert witness as early as possible. The first advantage is that the expert can help you decide if the case is questionable or a no-merit case before you have spent time and money on it. If that determination is made, defense counsel will gain strength in their argument for summary judgment or a lower settlement.
The expert can also educate you to gain a working knowledge on an esoteric subject. For example, a weather and meteorology expert witness can supply books and articles for you to get an understanding of aviation meteorology, air dispersion, air visibility, and satellite imagery analysis, as well as other topics.
Toxicology Expert Witnesses As Consultants
When hiring an expert witness, contact the expert personally. Determine that there is no conflict of interest and that they have the expertise necessary for your case. Also take into consideration that expert witnesses may be hired as consultants. For example, a toxicology expert witness can help you evaluate your case, assist in developing the case, educate counsel, and suggest experts to be hired to testify. They will be knowledgeable and can opine regarding toxic chemicals exposure, asbestosis, benzene, carcinogenesis, chemical burns, and chemical spills as well as provide reports on chemical toxicology, drug toxicology, and forensic toxicology.
Using Industrial Hygiene Expert Witnesses
Since jurors sometimes give more weight to expert witness testimony than to lay opinions or closing arguments, finding topics in your case that are sufficiently beyond common experience will permit expert testimony. You may need to be imaginative in coming up with ideas for expert testimony. For example, industrial hygiene expert witnesses can be used in many ways. They are prepared to opine and write reorts on chemical hygiene plans, environmental management systems, industrial accident reconstruction, industrial chemicals, industrial chemical toxicology, industrial cleaning, industrial exhaust systems, industrial hygiene engineering, and industrial toxicology, among other topics. If your expert is not allowed to testify, be prepared with other testimony or evidence. It may also be possible to include the information in your closing argument.
Plastics Expert Witness On CD & DVD Coatings
Plastics expert witness Dr. George Pasternack has this to say on coatings for web form plastic films:
The rapid cure speed of UV curable coatings has enabled manufacturers of CDs and DVDs to maximize manufacturing line speed (~ 3 to 4 seconds per unit). Two different types of UV materials are used in the manufacture of CDs. First, a UV abrasion resistant clear coat is spin coated onto the metal reflective layer. The protected metallized surface is then screen printed with a UV curable ink. In the case of DVDs, a UV curable adhesive is used to bind the protective polycarbonate layer to the metallized polycarbonate layer. The viscosity of the CD clear coat varies between 10 to 100 cps at 25o C, and the viscosity of DVD adhesives is less than 1,000 cps at 25o C.
For more see http://mysite.verizon.net/mb.pasternack/
Paints and Coatings Expert Witness On UV/EB Curable Coatings
Dr. George Pasternack, paints and coatings expert witness, writes this on safe handling of UV/EB curable coatings:
Acrylates are considered to be skin irritants and skin sensitizers. Therefore, as with any other liquid chemical, it is important to prevent skin and eye contact when handling UV/EB curable coatings. Wearing chemical resistant gloves, safety glasses or goggles, and a work uniform or protective apron are required to safely handle UV/EB curable coatings. Clothing soiled with acrylates should be removed immediately to prevent skin contact. Washing hands routinely with lukewarm water and a mild soap is also advisable to remove any undetected acrylate that may have come with the skin. Depending upon the situation, wearing a plastic bootie over shoes may be advisable. The skin and eye irritation and sensitization hazards are eliminated once the coating is fully cured. Instructing employees in the safe handling of UV/EB curable coatings should be part of an employee-training program.
Aviation Expert Witness Areas of Expertise
When hiring an aviation expert witness, look for one who can provide litigation and legal support in the domain that fits your case’s fact pattern. AeroPacific Consulting breaks down general aviation into the areas of :
Aerobatics Accident investigation and reconstruction Aeronautical judgment and decision-making Aircraft loss of control Aircraft system-subsystem/failure analysis Airline operations Airline safety management Airline transport pilot Airmanship Airworthiness ATC procedures Cockpit automation Commercial flight operations CVR/FDR interpretation and analysis Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)
Evaluation of deposition and documentation analysis Expert testimony FAA regulations Failure analysis Flight dynamics/aerodynamics Human factors Legal research Litigation support Medical qualification and certificates NTSB report analysis Pilot error Pilot/crew performance Pilot/crew “standard of care”
Handwriting Expert Witness On Suspicious Docs Part 3
In Checklist of Suspicious Features, Jacqueline A. Joseph, Certified Document Examiner and handwriting expert witness writes:
If you have a suspicious document or handwriting or typewriting, these clues should alert you to the need for a document examiner:
Only copies are available, and they are of unusually poor quality.
Gangs Expert Witness On Beating Death of Surfer
A gangs defense expert says that five young men charged with murder and gang allegations in the beating death of a surfer outside his La Jolla home do not fit the legal definition of being members of a criminal street gang. San Diego News reports:
Alfonso Valdez, a University of California, Irvine sociology professor who teaches classes on gang cultures, testified in the preliminary hearing for Seth Cravens, Orlando Osuna, Matthew Yanke, Eric House and Hank Hendricks, who are accused in the death a year ago of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui. “It is not a gang,” the expert witness testified. “None of the defendants in this case are gang members as defined under California law.” Valdez said none of the defendants admitted gang membership and did not act like gang members.