The Expert of Experts

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently ruled that in workers' compensation cases, an expert's opinion could be held valid even if the expert did not personally examine a specific injury the worker suffered. In Stancell v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, the court affirmed a benefits termination petition after the employer's medical expert testified regarding the employee's ability to return to work.

The court's holding suggests that as long as testifying physicians have sufficient, credible information regarding a worker's recovery, findings on a specific injury (especially when multiple injuries are the basis for benefits) may not be necessary to support the physician's opinion.

Read more: 24-7pressrelease.com.

BP engineers began a critical test of their leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well on Wednesday evening in an effort to determine if the pipes were structurally sound enough to allow them to seal off the gushing crude.  The test will measure the pressure inside the well. High-pressure readings for at least 48 hours may suggest that the well casings are relatively undamaged, which could mean it is safe to leave the well capped from above. And that, of course, would mean the incessant gush of oil, which has already despoiled ecosystems, livelihoods and lives, may finally stop, perhaps by the end of the week.

But the test itself is risky business. It requires that the well be sealed off temporarily with a snug, specially constructed capping stack that was latched onto the top of the well on Monday. And much like a thumb in a hole-studded garden hose, the cap could push oil out of any cracks that might exist in the well.

That scenario, in turn, could cause oil to seep upward and begin gushing from the sea bed, potentially turning the well into a ragged crater.  “That is THE worst case scenario,” said Iraj Ershaghi, a petroleum engineering expert at the University of Southern California. “Nobody has the technology to handle that.”

Read more: BusinessMirror.com.

A public inquiry report that concluded a Taser jolt carries a small risk of death is entirely supported by the evidence and is actually confirmed by the "fine print" the company now attaches to its weapons, the British Columbia government argued Tuesday as it defended the inquiry's findings in court. Taser International is challenging the first report into the death of Robert Dziekanski, arguing commissioner Thomas Braidwood treated the company unfairly and then reached conclusions that weren't supported by the facts. 

The Taser International's co-founder and several of its own experts appeared before the hearings in 2008.  But a lawyer for B.C.'s attorney general told a judge Tuesday the conclusion that a shock from a Taser has the capacity to affect the heart is confirmed by a training bulletin issued by the company last September — two months after the report's release.  The document, which received wide media coverage and prompted police forces across Canada to adjust their policies, recommended the devices be aimed away from the heart to "avoid the remote potential risk of cardiac effect."

Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

The defense brought their first medical expert to the stand on Tuesday in the trial of Paul Hill.  Hill is the Sioux City man charged with child endangerment resulting in the death of his 4-month-old daughter Tryniti Hill.  The defense called forensic neuropathology expert Dr. Jan who described the differences in the several hemorrhages found by medical examiners in Tryniti's brain during her autopsy.

When a hemorrhage occurs in the brain, Leestma says, "scavenger cells" take over to try and clean it up.  Leetsma says its difficult to say how long each have been there.  "Those cells can be present for years or longer they seem to get trapped there and that's the end," says Dr. Jan Leestma, forensic neuropathology consultant.  Leestma also says many people both adults and children, don't know they have hemorrhages right away.

For more, see ktv.com.

Finance professor Anjan Thakor testified as an expert witness for the government Tuesday in the resentencing of former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio, who is serving a six-year prison term for illegal insider trading.

Thakor said Nacchio illegally gained as much as $32.9 million from the insider stock sales for which he was convicted in 2007, according to court documents. The gain amount — the portion of the proceeds that can be attributed to the nonpublic information Nacchio based his stock sales on — is a key sentencing factor.

Read more: denverpost.com.

Perini Building Co. and MGM Mirage are preparing for a court battle over nearly $500 million in disputed construction bills at Las Vegas CityCenter, an $8.5 billion project, the largest private project in U.S. history.  "The claims and counterclaims in this case are immensely complicated and complex," said George Ogilvie, managing partner with McDonald Carano Wilson LLP, which represents Perini. "The court and the parties must be mindful of the impact of this litigation not only on Perini, but also on the subcontractors and suppliers whose livelihoods and very existence are at stake."

MGM Mirage gains greater negotiating leverage by bypassing its general contractor and dealing directly with subcontractors, industry observers said.  "It enables MGM to beat down smaller-sized, cash-strapped companies and pay pennies on the dollar," said one construction expert who requested anonymity. "The option is to face endless and costly litigation, with no promise of additional compensation in the future. Unfortunately, this 'divide-and-conquer' approach has become a common close-out model on large-sized projects."

For more, see lasvegasbusinesspress.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) designated May 24-June 6, 2010, Click it or Ticket (CIOT) Mobilization Week.  According to a James Madison University study, one out of every five drivers will be involved in a traffic crash this year. Safety belts, when used properly, reduce the number of serious traffic injuries by 50 percent and fatalities by 60-70 percent. CURE Auto Insurance reminds drivers to drive safe, always wear a seat belt, and provides the following statistics to consider before getting behind the wheel.

• If 90 percent of Americans buckle up, more than 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries annually can be prevented (source: car-accidents.com).

• For maximum protection, safety belts should be fastened before traveling any distance or speed. Seventy-five percent of crash deaths and injuries occur within 25 miles of home. More than half of all injury-producing motor vehicle crashes involve low speeds under 40 m.p.h. (source: James Madison University).

Citizens United Reciprocal Exchange, (CURE) is a not-for-profit reciprocal exchange headquartered in Princeton, N.J. Founded in 1990 by New Jersey Insurance Commissioner James J. Sheeran and award-winning insurance expert, Dr. Lena Chang.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) designated May 24-June 6, 2010, Click it or Ticket (CIOT) Mobilization Week.  According to a James Madison University study, one out of every five drivers will be involved in a traffic crash this year. Safety belts, when used properly, reduce the number of serious traffic injuries by 50 percent and fatalities by 60-70 percent. CURE Auto Insurance reminds drivers to drive safe, always wear a seatbelt, and provides the following statistics to consider before getting behind the wheel.

• Adults who don't buckle up are sending children a deadly message that it is alright not to wear a seat belt. Children model adult behavior. Research shows that if a driver is unbuckled, 70 percent of the time children riding in that vehicle won't be buckled either (source: NHTSA).

• Despite terrible traffic problems such as aggressive driving, increasing seat belt use is still the single most effective thing we can do to save lives and reduce injuries on Americas roadways (source: NHTSA). Sixty-three percent of people killed in car accidents were not wearing seatbelts (car-accidents.com).

Citizens United Reciprocal Exchange, (CURE) is a not-for-profit reciprocal exchange headquartered in Princeton, N.J. Founded in 1990 by New Jersey Insurance Commissioner James J. Sheeran and award-winning insurance expert, Dr. Lena Chang.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) designated May 24-June 6, 2010, Click it or Ticket (CIOT) Mobilization Week.  According to a James Madison University study, one out of every five drivers will be involved in a traffic crash this year. Safety belts, when used properly, reduce the number of serious traffic injuries by 50 percent and fatalities by 60-70 percent. CURE Auto Insurance reminds drivers to drive safe, always wear a seatbelt, and provides the following statistics to consider before getting behind the wheel.

• Failure to buckle up contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior. Every hour someone dies in America simply because they didn't buckle up (source: NHTSA).

• Safety belt use is one of the best defenses against the unpredictable actions of drunk drivers (source: James Madison University).

Citizens United Reciprocal Exchange, (CURE) is a not-for-profit reciprocal exchange headquartered in Princeton, N.J. Founded in 1990 by New Jersey Insurance Commissioner James J. Sheeran and award-winning insurance expert, Dr. Lena Chang.

Eight hours into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill "top kill" operation, a BP official said Wednesday night that it was too soon to tell if it would work. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said he expected to know if the plan was working within 24 hours. “Top kill,” which has been described as one of the most elaborately staged and far-reaching maneuvers to stop oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, was put into action at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Engineering expert Manhar Dhanak of the Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering in Boca Raton, Fla., was concerned about the state of the blowout preventer. If it is damaged, the rate of oil could greatly increase. “Rather than helping, it could create more problems,” Mr. Dhanak says.

For more, see csmonitor.com.