I am looking for an expert witness to testify in a products liability
case.  The defect involves the ingress or access system onto a scraper
(a construction vehicle).  Our client was exiting the scraper and was
injured due to a faulty designed step.  Question:  Who would be a
specialist in this area.

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Request for Question Clarification by expertlaw-ga on 26 Aug 2002 16:33 PDT

Where (in what state or province) will the expert testify? Some
experts limit the geographic range they serve.

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Clarification of Question by cliff888-ga on 26 Aug 2002 20:30 PDT

Expert will testify in Illinois (but can be from any state).  The
scraper was manufactured by GM in the 1970's.  Its a Terex Scraper.

cliff888...

The brand and year of the scraper are information
that the expert would investigate, but are not that
pertinent to selecting a witness (none advertise such
specific details). Those with expertise in the area
of "failure analysis" will use forensic methodolgy
and inspect the equipment for safety problems. 
Hopefully, you still have the equipment in question.

There are numerous expert witness "directories" and
resources on the internet, and most of them are free.
"Failure Analysis" would be a good search term on
sites with an open search, rather than categorized
entries.


ExpertPages.com calls itself "The Original and Leading
Directory of Expert Witnesses and Consultants"

Their homepage is:  http://expertpages.com/

Experts are sorted by categories here:
http://expertpages.com/experts.htm

Selecting the area of Safety Engineering takes you
to a map of the USA. Selecting Illinois takes you to:
http://w3.expertpages.com/public/rt_acct.php?V_TID=407&V_RID=4,18&V_SID=14
This page lists experts who work out of Illinois,
but include experts from other locations who,
presumably opted to be listed as available to
work in Illinois. From this page is a link to
"Show All Experts in Safety Engineering", here:
http://w3.expertpages.com/public/all_experts.php?V_TID=407

Both lists are very similar, and I suspect such
experts expect to travel nationwide to research
and testify.

You can also fill out an online form, here:
https://secure.expertpages.com/forms/request_expert.php
and they will assist you, for free, in locating the
ideal witness for your situation.


The Expert Witness Network, at: 
http://www.witness.net/
is membership site, however they provide a search
engine to locate witnesses here:
http://www.witness.net/experts/

Entering "safety engineering" produces 11 returns,
for which I cannot provide a URL.

Entering "failure analysis" produces 18 returns,
again, with a URL I cannot provide.


ExpertLaw.com has listings for all categories here:
http://www.expertlaw.com/experts/index.html

...and for "Accident & Injury" experts here:
http://www.expertlaw.com/experts/accidents.html

...with subcategories for "Accident Reconstruction",
"Industrial/Manufacturing" and "Products Liability".


ExpertWitness.com also provides a search from its
homepage here:  http://www.expertwitness.com/

...with an extensive category search page here:
http://www.expertwitness.com/category_search.phtml

...with entries for "Accident Investigation, 
"Accident Reconstruction", "Safety" and many
more applicable categories.


The National Directory of Expert Witnesses, here:
http://www.claims.com/
offers a keyword search (up to 3 words) here:
http://www.claims.com/Members2/search.html
(a search for "failure analysis" provided an
entire page of links)

...or a category list here:
http://www.claims.com/Members2/orglist.html

...with entries for:

"Accident Reconstruction"
http://www.claims.com/Members2/witnesslist.asp?d_category=ACCIDENT+RECONSTRUCTION&O_1=catsort&O_2=alpha

...and sub-headings thereof, such as "Biomechanics":
http://www.claims.com/Members2/witnesslist.asp?d_category=ACCIDENT+RECONSTRUCTION&O_1=catsort&O_2=alpha

All of which lead to individual listings with email
and homepages (if applicable).


LawInfo.com provides a searchable database here:
http://expertwitness.lawinfo.com/


I believe these combined resources should provide
a substantial database from which to select an
effective witness for your situation. Some 
exploration of the resources specific to each
site will be necessary, of course, and information
specific to your case will need to be conveyed to
potential candidates to assess their interest and
expertise in regards to your specifics. And the 
always-valuable spark of intuition based on 
personal contact will no doubt come into play
in ultimately selecting the ideal person.


Searches done, via Google:

"expert witness"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22expert+witness%22

"safety engineering" + witnesses
://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22safety+engineering%22+%2B+witnesses

"accident reconstruction" + witnesses
://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22accident+reconstruction%22+%2B+witnesses&btnG=Google+Search


If this satisfies your interest, I'm pleased to have 
been of assistance. If I can further assist you in  
this matter, please post a request for clarification 
of the answer before rating it.

sublime1-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by cliff888-ga on 27 Aug 2002 16:08 PDT

I am all ears.

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 27 Aug 2002 17:30 PDT

cliff888...

Like expertlaw-ga, I also hate to see a Google Answers
client be less than satisfied, which is why I encouraged
you to post a request for clarification of the answer
before rating the answer. Instead, no request was made,
and the answer was rated poorly. This can be disheartening
and counter-motivational to the spirit of research.

Additionally, the one word "okay" in the rating section
does not clarify if the answer was only "okay" or if you
are saying "okay" to my offer of further assisting you.
If it means the latter, it would help to know specific
details regarding what further assistance would entail.

Now you have entered "I am all ears" in a clarification
request, which would seem to be a response to expertlaw-ga's
comment offering you the possibility of a peer-based
referral. If this was intended for him, understand that
the request for clarification sends notice to the one
who answered the question, and requires that I respond
with an answer clarification. If this is not your intent,
and you would prefer to continue your dialog with expertlaw-ga,
without my input, this can be accomplished by posting a 
comment, rather than a request for clarification.

If you are seeking my input, I will need to know what
would constitute an enhancement to the answer I gave,
bearing in mind that I cannot provide personal referrals
to a colleague, as expertlaw-ga may be able to do.

sublime1-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by cliff888-ga on 03 Sep 2002 18:56 PDT

I found an expert.

thanks

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 03 Sep 2002 20:26 PDT

Again, by posting your thanks in the "Request for Clarification"
form, it is required that I reply with a "Clarification".
I'm sure I speak accurately on behalf of expertlaw-ga by saying:
"You're welcome."

okay.

cliff888-ga,

The more information you can provide about the actual vehicle
involved, the more satisfactory your Answer will be. OK, you said it's
a scraper. Make? Model? Year? Maintence records? What exactly was it
being used for at the time of the accident?

~omniscientbeing-ga

By that token, it would also help to know how the accident occurred.

Consulting firms are common sources for expert witnesses. Back when I
was a co-op at Arthur D Little, I spend a day with a PhD engineer
experimenting how a gas leak from a fuel pump could cause a plane
crash, ie, we blew stuff up. Being an expert witness was his
specialty, covered a large chunk of his billable hours. Apparently
lawyers prefer professional witnesses to plain experts. Look for a
firm that consults for Harvester, Caterpillar, Deere, Case, Michigan,
Volvo, or any of the Japanese heavy equipment makers.

Additional Resources:

The major expert witness directories are in the Google Directory:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Law/Legal_Information/Resources/Directories/Expert_Witnesses/

As are the major expert witness referral services (but I assume from
the question you wish to avoid using such a service):
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Law/Services/Expert_Witnesses/Referral_Services/

LLRX published an article on finding experts through the Internet a
few years ago, which can be found at:
http://www.llrx.com/features/expert.htm

cliff888 - I hate to see a Google client go away less than satisfied.
If you would like, I can find you a few specific experts who might be
able to assist you (or perhaps refer you to a colleague who can help).
In the alternative, I may be able to suggest an alternative resource
for obtaining expert witness referrals without going through a
referral service (i.e., a peer-based referral, not one that inflates
the expert's cost through a referral fee.)

Cear cliff888,

I did not initially see your note above, as I was watching the
comments section and not requests for clarification posted to
sublime1. I hope you find the following helpful.

The two areas of expertise that come to mind are typically both in the
engineering field - "human factors" and design. A "human factors"
expert looks beyond the mere design, and evaluates the interplay
between humans and machines. This type of expert may be able to point
to reasons why a design that looks good on paper may in fact be
defective in practice.

Given the age of the machine at issue, to the extent that liability in
your case may turn on the issue of standards of engineering and design
practice when the machine was built, it may be necessary to hire an
expert who is familiar with (or can become familiar with) design
standards from the 1970's. This, of course, will depend upon the tort
laws of your state. (But I doubt I'm telling you anything you don't
already know.)

Without actually contacting and attempting to retain specific experts,
I cannot be certain that (a) they have precisely the experience you
require, or (b) they would be able to represent you after running a
"conflicts check" on your case. However, I can suggest some experts
whom I would likely contact if I were litigating a similar product
liability case (with the caveat that I have not done so since shortly
after Michigan's "tort reform" laws eviscerated the protections
formerly offered to Michigan consumers against defective products).
Also, like attorneys, even if a particular expert cannot help you, the
expert may be able to recommend qualified peers who can help.

Possible Experts:

Humatec
University Research Park
4747 Troost Avenue,
Kansas City, Missouri 64110-1764
Phone: 816-531-6363
Fax: 816-531-1109
email: humatec@humatec.com
(Services offered nationwide; offices in Kansas and Missouri.)
http://www.humatec.com/

Proctor Engineering Research & Consulting
2106 NW 67th Place, Suite 5
Gainesville, FL 32653
Phone: 352-384-9970
Fax: 352-384-9978 (fax)
Email: clp@perc.com
(Website does not reflect geographic range. Based in Florida.)
http://www.perc.com/

SEAL Corporation
System Engineering and Laboratories
12785 Highway 64
East Tyler, Texas, 75707
(Offices in Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana)
Phone: (800) 624-0905
Fax: (903) 566-4504
email: seal@tyler.net
http://www.sealcorp.com/

W.A. Moore Enterprises / WAMooreForensics.com
166 Babcock Rd.
San Antonio, TX 78201
Phone: (210) 734-6869
Fax: (210) 736-5900
email: WAMooreForensics.com
(website reflects nationwide service)
http://wamooreforensics.com/


As I indicated above, there are some non-traditional sources for
obtaining experts. One that you may wish to try is the expert-l email
list, which is operated and moderated by the "Expert Witness Network".
Simply go to their website, sign up for the mailing list (following
the instructions posted on that site), and post that you are looking
for an expert (providing the details you have outlined here).
http://www.witness.net/expertl.html


Good luck,

- expertlaw

cliff888-ga

Out of curiosity, did you find the information you obtained here to be
helpful in your quest for an expert?

- expertlaw

You will probably also need an expert to testify to the economic
damages the person suffered as a result of this accident.  My dad was
ECON chair at a Big 12 school for many years and I grew up listening
to his experiences testifying in many antitrust cases, along with some
personal injury/product liability cases.  I recently served on a jury
in a personal injury case where the plaintiff produced no evidence of
specific long-term damages, impact to earnings, etc..  If we had
found for the plaintiff, we would have had no guidance in this regard.